NAMING RIGHTS

Rachel Miller, a mom of two in Benwood, West Virginia, is obsessed with names. "I considered myself a researcher of one of the most important things I could ever do for my child. I'm shocked by friends who know the sticker price of every option available on a car they're buying but have no idea how popular their new baby's name is."

Miller pored over the annual SSA (Social Security Administration) tally of how many babies received which names as avidly as other people read front-page headlines or baseball stats. She worried about whether the names she was most enamored of would be equally suitable for a child and an adult, if they might inspire embarrassing nicknames, and what kind of image they were likely to convey.

When it says, “When he went out in public, people came from these places,” you have to keep in mind that Tyre and Sidon were a hundred miles to the north of Jerusalem and Judea. So now we’re saying not just that when Jesus went out in public to teach, people came from the locality, but they came from a hundred miles around.

Like many parents, Miller believes that a name holds the power to shape a child's self-esteem and his identity—and influence how he's seen and treated by others. "There were times during my pregnancy when we felt that choosing the name was a greater responsibility than having the child," says Heather Abrahams, the Woonsocket, Rhode Island, mom of 5-month-old Jaden. What gives a name choice so much weight? The permanence of the decision, for one thing. While parents have been known to change their baby's name, you can't very well call a child Jaden today, Sam a few weeks from now, and Louis at Thanksgiving.

Judea and Jerusalem were Jewish provinces, and Tyre and Sidon were Gentile provinces. Idumea and the Galilean area were multiethnic and multiracial. This was in a time of great national and ethnic cleavage and all sorts of tensions. I guess there are always ethnic tensions everywhere and every time.

"Your name defines you," says Gregg Steiner, a Los Angeles talent manager who's expecting his first child. "It's your brand, really, for the rest of your life."

Jesus’ popularity cuts across all of that. People are coming to him from everywhere, and the crowds are dangerously dense and huge. It says they pushed forward and they crowded. These are words that mean to violently trample. The crowds were so big that they were dangerous. How does Jesus respond to that popularity? He responds to the popularity by going up into a mountain and beginning naming and renaming people.

Is this true? Does a name have that much power? It depends on whose research you believe. Research conducted the National Bureau of Economics of MIT and the University of Chicago say yes. Researchers submitted 5,000 resumes with identical credentials for advertised jobs, tagging some of them with names commonly seen as African-American—Latoya and Rasheed, for instance—while others carried "white" names, such as Sarah and Brad. The theoretically white applicants received 50 percent more interview offers. There were names, however, that showed no racial differential, with Anne and Kenya garnering equal interest from employers, and Leroy as likely to succeed as Matthew.

However, another large-scale study called, The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names, by a Harvard fellow and a University of Chicago professor, contradicted the finding that a person's career success could be affected by her name's racial identity. "We find little evidence," it concluded, "that names have a causal impact on adult life outcomes."

What is that about? What does that mean? I think it means something very significant. We’re going to learn here one of the chief ways in which Jesus Christ transforms people and changes people’s lives. We want to learn here as we look at this text in Jesus we learn that we receive a new name, how we receive that new name, and why we receive a new name.

Race issues aside, the National Bureau of Economics study contains other provocative implications for the long-range effects of name choices. The researchers found no link between the familiarity of a name and the likelihood of getting an interview, which means parents needn't worry that they're undermining their child's career prospects by choosing an unusual or popular name. More baffling, some names garnered far more interview requests than others, with Kristen and Brad inexplicably getting twice as many callbacks as Emily or Geoffrey. Similarly, "black" Jermaine and Ebony won nearly three times as many interview invites as equally African-American sounding Tremayne and Keisha.

The statistical data supporting the power of names are sketchy and confusing at best, there's no shortage of anecdotal evidence that names carry potent messages. Parents confess to forming their own stereotypes about other people based on names. One mom said she'd hire a babysitter with a reassuringly ordinary name like Jennifer but wouldn't chance an Abra, while another admitted to being more likely to pass on resumes at work that donned difficult-to-pronounce names. Moms and dads we interviewed say they assume that Bambi is a bimbo and Ethel an old lady, expect Ainsley to be a snob, and wonder whether Mikel came from a family that fancied itself creative or didn't know how to spell.

1. In Jesus we learn that we receive a new name

Even if parents don't believe that a name has the capacity to shape a child's future, many believe it speaks volumes about their own tastes and values. "Names say much more about who the parent is than who the child is or will become," says Hillary Harris, a Los Angeles photographer and mom of two boys. "If I want to say, 'I am honest, trustworthy, warm, solid, accessible, disarming,' well, then I name my kid Charlie." Which is exactly what she did.

We can debate whether naming still plays a significant role in modern society. We can argue over its importance, but we must not abolish its influence.

Parents should expend thoughtful energy in naming their children, but they should not exhaust themselves. Choose a name that stresses your desires but don’t stress yourself out. Remember, human naming can only express a desired outcome it cannot determine. You can exhaust yourself mental capacities in giving your child a name that seeks a noble outcome.

The theme of this section is naming. The word name is “nomen” in Greek from which we get our word nomenclature. Nomenclature means; a set or system of names or terms, as those used in a particular science or art, by an individual or community, etc.

He named them apostles meaning “sent ones”. Then he proceeds to go down into their individual lives. He renames Simon with Peter. James and John he renames “thunder”. So what does this mean?

Adolph Hitler name meant noble wolf. This named expressed a parental desire but proved to be a partial true. A wolf he was but noble he was not.

From 1933 to 1942 Adolph was a top 20 male name. A survey taken of 600,000 German births in 2006 discovered only one was named Adolph. While the name itself is not banned, there is actually a comparably restrictive law on first names in Germany: 'In order to protect the child, the name must not be absurd or degrading in any way.' Any civil registry office hearing that you want to name your child Adolf would strongly encourage you to rethink and ponder what you would to your child. However, in the end, they will accept it as it is a valid and legal name.

During this time, names were extremely important, furthermore naming was an act of great importance and power. Your name was supposed to convey the essence of who you were. If you went through a great change in life, you had to change your name. If you had multiple names, it meant you were a great person. You were a person of multi-dimensions.

The most popular girl name in 2017 was Emma. Emma means whole, complete, and universal. People with this name have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community, and a need to work with others and to be appreciated. People with this name are excited by change, adventure, and excitement. They are dynamic, visionary and versatile, able to make constructive use of freedom. They fight being restricted by rules and conventions. They tend to be optimistic, energetic, intelligent, and to make friends easily. They may be changeable, restless, untidy, and rebellious.

Yet everyone had a personal name, a true name, the name with which they thought of themselves, and you didn’t hand that out to many people. At least you didn’t give everybody the right to use it, because then they could control you because, if they knew your name, they had power over you.

You say, “I picking up what you are putting down but isn’t that irrelevant for us today?” Names just aren’t that important. We don’t really believe in the power of names. If this is true then why did Demetria Guynes become Demi Moore? Why did Gordon Matthew Sumner become Sting? Why did Marion Michael Morrison become John Wayne? Because you can’t have a cowboy named Marion.

The most popular male name in 2017 was Liam. Liam means a determine protector or faithful defender. People with this name have a deep inner desire to use their abilities in leadership, and to have personal independence. They would rather focus on large, important issues, and delegate the details. People with this name are competent, practical, and often obtain great power and wealth. They tend to be successful in business and commercial affairs and are able to achieve great material dreams. Because they often focus so strongly on business and achievement, they may neglect their private lives and relationships.

Jason - meaning healing. In Greek mythology, the leader of the group of warrior heroes called the Argonauts. People with this name have a deep inner need for quiet, and a desire to understand and analyze the world they live in, and to learn the deeper truths. People with this name are excited by change, adventure, and excitement. They are dynamic, visionary and versatile, able to make constructive use of freedom. They fight being restricted by rules and conventions. They tend to be optimistic, energetic, intelligent, and to make friends easily. They may be changeable, restless, untidy, and rebellious.

For example, why did Demetria Guynes become Demi Moore? Get this … Why did Gordon Matthew Sumner become Sting? This is an easy one too. Why did Marion Michael Morrison become John Wayne? Because you can’t have a cowboy named Marion. Well, I guess today you can. Why did Martha Kostyra become Martha Stewart? Because they couldn’t reinvent themselves without changing their name, because changing your name has power.

Their new name gave them the power to reinvent themselves. Changing your name has power.

When humans name they seek to express a desire outcome, which sometimes come true, sometimes falls short, and most of the time misses the mark entirely.

Genesis teaches us that naming is an act of authority. It was the right kind of authority, because when you name something, you sense your responsibility. So naming has a shaping power, and names have power.

A word of caution for those who experience success. A parent who finds great pride and even identity in their child’s identity is as foolish as some taking credit for piercing blue eyes. Furthermore, parents who are crushed by the failures of their children are just as foolish. Your spitting into the ocean has a better opportunity to change its depth than you do at changing your child’s identity. Please don’t hear me wrong. This is not a “let go and let God” for that’s not Biblical. Parents have a responsibility to their children. Live your life in such a way that your children fall short of your desire in spite not because of you.

God the Father named Adam signifying his authority over Adam. This is not a fascists authority but a fatherly authority. In he gives Adam authority (dominion) over everything on earth. Adam displays his God given authority in by naming all living creatures. Then God the Father gives his image bearer another command as an ultimate expression of authority, the naming of Eve, see , .

When we name our children there is a limit to how much power we can exert. Over the years, parents have tried so desperately to give their children strong names and beautiful names in the hope that they will grow up to reflect their name sake. However, life strikes us with a blow reality. Children don’t often fulfill our hopes. This serves to ironic reminder of our parental impotence to actually bring about our desire.

Then the names actually stay there as sort of ironic comments on your parental impotence to actually bring about the thing you tried to bring about with the name.

Adam’s authority is expressed in naming. Naming is an act of authority. Authority should not be interpreted as tyrannical ruler but responsibility. Every time Adam called Eve by name he was reminded of his God given responsibility. Parents you have a responsibility to your children. When they obey, not you but Christ to whom you are pointing them to, rejoice in God’s grace. When they disobey, not you but Christ to whom you are pointing them to, rejoice in God’s grace. When you fail to point them to Christ, run to Christ for grace in your time of need and rejoice that there is a fresh supply each day. Remember, that Adam’s failure was covered by the slaying of an innocent creature and your failure has been covered by an innocent Christ.

You could buy a little piece of land on a lake, and you build your dream house, and you name your home, “Peace Lake.” Yet if your home, if your family, is filled with trouble and filled with strife, you’re driving home to “Peace Lake” one night, and you’re saying, “Gosh, it didn’t turn out that way.” It reminds you that ultimately, when human beings name, there’s a limit to how much power we have in the naming.

You will not avoid the crushing effect of guilt if you attach yourself to your child’s identity.

Though we may be impotent to bring our desires God is not. God didn’t create by snapping his omnipotent fingers or by thinking omnipotent thoughts into existence. He brought everything into existence with his omnipotent word.

You child’s earthly name needs to be well consider but know this eternity in the presence of God mandates it to be changed.

God creates by naming things into existence. He doesn’t say, “Let there be light,” and then go off and make the light. He says, “Let there be light,” and there was light. What does that mean? When God names he creates reality.

When we name we seek to describe the nature of the object but when God names he determines the nature of the object.

A name creates an identity. Your identity seeks to direct a course of living. Your identity seeks to develop your character. Your identity deepens your capacity.

The English word “appoint” falls short in its translation. It is a radical word which means “to create or to make”. It’s a Greek word that is used for an artist creating a work of art. “He made them twelve.” In other words, he didn’t look at these twelve and say, “These guys have what it takes,” and so he named them apostles. No, he gave them what it took. In other words, Jesus has divine power to call into being out of nothing that which he names as he names it.

Today’s text informs us how our salvation changes our identity.

Though we may be impotent to bring our desires to pass God is not. God didn’t create by snapping his omnipotent fingers or by thinking omnipotent thoughts into existence. He brought everything into existence with his omnipotent word.

This is a word that means created. It says, “He created twelve.” It’s a Greek word that is used for an artist creating a work of art. “He made them twelve.” In other words, he didn’t look at these twelve and say, “These guys have what it takes,” and so he named them apostles. No, he gave them what it took. He didn’t recognize they had what it took. He gave them what it took.

Jesus’ naming has that power. If you are ugly and Jesus names you beautiful, and he will, he can’t be wrong. His name imparts the beauty. If you’re weak and Jesus names you strong, and he will, he makes you strong. In other words, Jesus has divine power to call into being out of nothing that which he names as he names it.

God creates by naming things into existence. He doesn’t say, “Let there be light,” and then go off and make the light. He says, “Let there be light,” and there was light. What does that mean? When God names he creates reality.

When we name an OBJECT, we express a desired outcome. when God names an object, he determines the outcome.

Do you know what that means? Who are you? What is your identity? Everybody in this room has some working model for achieving that. I’ll tell you why. We can’t live with just being part of the faceless crowd. We can’t live with being part of the mob. Science tells you you’re just a wave upon the sand. Science tells you you’re just a dewdrop going back into the ocean. Your individuality will be gone pretty soon.

A new identity DIRECTS a new COURSE.

We can’t live like that. Every single one of us needs an identity, a sense of self, a sense there is a distinct value and a unique purpose to us. There’s something that makes us distinct as individuals. We’re not just a wave upon the sand. We’re not just a dewdrop going back into the ocean. There’s something different, unique, and distinct about us. How are you getting that? You have to have it. How are you getting it?

The English word “appoint”, in verse 14, falls short in its translation. It is a radical word which means “to create or to make”. It’s a Greek word that is used for an artist creating a work of art. “He made them twelve.” In other words, he didn’t look at these twelve and say, “These guys have what it takes,” and so he named them apostles. No, he gave them what it took. In other words, Jesus has divine power to call into being out of nothing that which he names as he names it.

A new identity (name) directs a new course. If you want to become the icon of Cowboy Westerns you go by John Wayne not Marion Michael Morrison. If you want to become an icon of rock music, you go by Sting not Gordon Matthew Sumner. If you want to become the highest paid female actor, you go by Demi Moore not Demetria Guynes. A new name gives the power to reinvent. Changing your name has power.

2. In Jesus we learn how we receive a new name

Jesus is doing more than giving them a new name he is giving them what it takes to become their new name.

When people change their name, they aspire to live up to that new identity. When Jesus changes your name, He indwells within you to abilify you to live up to that new identity.

Jesus does not give you a name to express a desired outcome but to engender a determine outcome. Oh, by the way, a new identity does not mean that there no longer reminds any remanence of your old identity. Even after Christ confirms upon Peter his new name, the rock, he would often call him Simon. This was to remind he that he was not living out his identity. Peter’s name was intended to direct a new course of life. Simon the fisherman was now Peter, the rock, whom the church would be built upon.

Because you can obviously see it in the names, some cultures encourage people to find their distinct value and their unique purpose in family. That’s why you have those cultures in which everyone’s name is Isaacson and Johnson and Anderson and Swanson and Swenson. You say, “That’s all sons, right?” Interestingly enough, in Icelandic a lot of the words end with –dottir instead of –sson, so you might be Isaacsdottir and Johnsdottir. Of course, -dottir is daughter.

I know what your thinking; “this sounds great, but I don’t remember Jesus giving me a new name at my salvation.” “Jesus has never taken me up on a mountain and conferred to me a new identity”.

Listen to Paul in Ephesian 2:10. The word workmanship in Greek is where we get our word poem. The word create means to bring something into existence that had not existed before. It is used exclusively of God. God is bringing into existence something new by His words, in your life, which will produce good works that he has determine for you to live out.

You’ve had many cultures like that to say that’s how you know what your distinct value is and your unique purpose is. It’s in family you get your identity. Other cultures have encouraged you to do it through your job. That’s how you know you have an identity. That’s how you know you have a distinct value and a unique purpose.

Much of our lives have been determined such as your gender, nationality, and parents. These are the marks of the Great Artist of history making you who you must be to do the things only you can do.

Those are cultures in which people’s names are Baker and Smith and Fisher. Whatever names you owns you. You may say, “I don’t get my identity from my job. I don’t get my identity from my family. I help the poor” or “I’m an artist” or “I do this or that.” Whatever names you owns you. Here’s what I mean.

In , there’s this famous parable Jesus tells of Lazarus and the rich man. It’s about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. They live, and then they die. Some of you remember Lazarus, the poor man, goes into the bosom of Abraham, and the rich man goes to hell. We don’t have to go on any further in the narrative yet because all I want to make as a point is this.

Sounds good and preaches but a poem in progress still does not give me a name. Stay with me as I add an additional layer to this meal.

God has conferred to each of his children a universal name and a unique name.

Commentators have always wanted to know why one of the characters has a proper personal name and the other one doesn’t. In most parables, it’s all or none. For example, in the parable of the prodigal son, you have a father, you have an older brother, and a younger brother, but none of them have proper names.

You either have a parable in which everybody has a proper name or nobody has a proper name. Why does Lazarus, the poor man, have a name and the rich man is just called a rich man? I think the answer is if you get your identity from your wealth, if you say, “I’m somebody. I have distinct value and unique purpose because I’ve made money and I have money,” if you lose it, you have no self left. You have no you left. There’s no you there because you’re a rich man or you’re nothing.

Scripture does not tell us our unique name as it did with Peter. There are many reasons why, but I will only give you one. Knowing your new name does not make life any easier. Peter had known his name since his first encounter with Christ in . Knowing his name didn’t make him a rock more quickly.

You will only discover your unique name as you live out your universal name.

That’s one of the reasons so many people who are athletes … Athletes have a fairly short shelf life. When your athletic time is over, sometimes you’re just lost. Do you know why you’re just lost? Because you’re an athlete or you’re no one. You can say, “No, I’m a father or a mother or I’m working for the poor. I’m an artist, or I make music.”

Jesus will not tell us our new unique name, but he will teach us how to discover our unique name.

We first discover our unique name through being sent.

These twelve men had unique apostolic gifting that we don’t but there are universal gifting that we share. We both are sent into the world to liberate people, to free them from what binds them, to serve people through word and deed. That is exactly what every Christ-follower is sent out to do as well. What does that have to do with identity? Everything.

The word Apostle means sent one. These twelve men had unique apostolic gifting that we don’t but there are universal gifting that we share. We both are sent into the world to liberate people, to free them from what binds them, to serve people through word and deed. That is exactly what every Christ-follower is sent out to do as well. What does that have to do with identity? Everything.

Jesus says in

Whatever names you owns you. That means if you fail or if you lose those things, there’s no you left. You don’t have a stable identity. There’s not a stable core. There’s no sense of self that can last through any circumstances, last through any seasons, last through every part of the year. That’s what an identity ought to be. An identity should be a stable core, a sense of self that’s there no matter what the circumstances, but we don’t have it.

Matthew 10:39 ESV

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

that you must lose yourself to find yourself. Jesus is saying if you try to find yourself directly, you never will. Instead of trying to find out who you are, help other people find out who they are. Instead of working on yourself, serve others, and you will find out who you are. You can never find yourself directly. Serve other people. Pour yourself out for other people. Help unleash them from the things that bind them. Pour your life out for other people, and you will get yourself.

that you must lose yourself to find yourself. Jesus is saying if you try to find yourself directly, you never will. Instead of trying to find out who you are, help other people find out who they are. Instead of working on yourself, serve others, and you will find out who you are. You can never find yourself directly. Serve other people. Pour yourself out for other people. Help unleash them from the things that bind them. Pour your life out for other people, and you will get yourself.

When you serve others, you come to find out what you’re good at and what you’re not so good at. That’s a big part of understanding who you are. It’s a very important way to understand your gifting, and that’s one of the ways to find out who God is calling you to be.

Jesus says, “There’s another way. I can name you, and if I give you a name, you have a name indeed. If I give you an identity, then you have an identity that’s industrial strength, that can handle wealth and poverty. It can handle love and betrayal. It can handle anything.” You say, “Here it says the apostles got a name, but do you mean everybody who knows Jesus gets a name from him?” Yes.

You will only discover your unique name as you live out your universal name.

For example, in , Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and I call them by name.” In , Jesus says, “To him who overcomes … I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” I don’t know what that means either. I know some of you are out there saying, “Oh, great teacher, explain the meaning of the great word.”

says that God gives gifts to each one of his children for the common good. This gift is not given to define us but to direct us. Peter’s name did not define him but directed him. He was a disciple, a follower of Christ, this defined him. Before Christ called him Peter he called him to be a disciple; “come follow me”.

The answer is it means what it says. Jesus says, “To him who overcomes …” “I call all my sheep by their name.” Every one of you has a new name, a different name. “To him who overcomes I will give a white stone with a new name written, known only to the one who receives it.” : “You are God’s craftsmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, prepared beforehand for you to walk in.” Listen to those metaphors. “I am the good shepherd. I call every one of my sheep by their name.”

Shepherds know. Every sheep is an individual. Every sheep is different.” When Jesus Christ, the Lord of history and the universe, has the audacity to say, “I know my sheep by name,” what he’s saying is, “You are a unique individual. You have a unique value. I love you differently than I love every other one. There is no one else in the history of the universe like you.”

Our text teaches us that we discover our new name through community.

When Jesus went up into the mountain and called 12 everybody knew what that meant. Do you know what that means? Jesus is reminding everyone very strongly of Moses. Moses went up into a mountain, called the twelve tribes together, and constituted them a new nation.

A couple of days later, he said, “Douglas, I went through Stirling, and I saw the Carse of Stirling. Guess what? Quite a few of my lambs were in that herd.” You and I would say, “Come on. Look at that. They all look the same. They’re all fluffy. You can sort of say, ‘Fluffy’ and ‘Muffy.’ That’s about it.”

Jesus, the second Moses, the ultimate Moses, comes up into the mountain, and calls 12 together, and this is his way of saying, “I am creating a new people. I’m creating a new humanity, a new community.” In that community and only deep in that community are you ever going to find out who you are.

Douglas MacMillan said, “I was a shepherd, and I knew too much to say, ‘Are you crazy? How could you pick your sheep? From the train how could you tell they were your lambs?’ He knew. Shepherds know. Every sheep is an individual. Every sheep is different.” When Jesus Christ, the Lord of history and the universe, has the audacity to say, “I know my sheep by name,” what he’s saying is, “You are a unique individual. You have a unique value. I love you differently than I love every other one. There is no one else in the history of the universe like you.”

When you hear your voice, don’t you hate it? Do you know why? You are too close to yourself to know what you really sound like. You don’t really hear your voice through your ears. You hear your voice through the bones in your neck.

As a result, your voice sounds far richer and more mellifluent to yourself than it does to anyone else. So, when you hear a recording of yourself, you say, “that cant’ be me, I don’t really sound like that, do I?”

, has the audacity to say you are God’s workmanship with good works, created beforehand for you to walk in. The word workmanship is the Greek word poiēma from which we get our word poem. You are a work of art. You are the Lord’s work of art. Think about that.

You have no idea who you are unless you have some people you are in deep enough community with, and you’ve given them a hunting license, and you’ve given them a green light and a warrant to tell you what the worst things are about you. If there’s nobody who dares to do that to you, you’re not in community, and you’ll never find out who you are, because it’s only as others tell you who you are and show you the layer upon layer upon layer of self-regard and anxiety and weakness and neediness. You won’t admit it.

A work of art, of course, is valuable, and a work of art is beautiful. More than that, a work of art is an expression of the inner vision of the artist. That’s you. You have been made for certain things to be done, good works prepared beforehand for you to walk in. Unique purpose? Everything that has happened to you …

You didn’t choose your gender. You didn’t choose your nationality. You didn’t choose your parents. You didn’t choose your troubles. All of those things are just brushes. All those things are hammer and chisel.… All those things are things the great Artist of history has been using to make you exactly who you have to be to do the things only you can do.

It’s only through community you will see the mess you are and go to Jesus in repentance, and you’ll throw yourself in desperation at him, saying, “You have to help me.” That’s the only way you’re ever going to become the person Jesus is calling you to be … only through ministry, through the process, secondly, of community, and thirdly, through the process of intimacy.

We learn our new name through intimacy.

Jesus says, “There’s an identity. The deepest secret of your identity is on that stone. The deepest secret of your identity is the name I give you. I can assure you of your unique value and love. I can give you a unique purpose, and that is an identity that will last through anything. If you don’t have that, what do you have? Because whatever else you build your identity on owns you, and it will jerk you around.”

In verse 14 it says that; “he appointed twelve so that they might be with him.” That’s the language of intimacy.

The Bible holds out the promise of remarkable, direct, real experience of love, and if you’re never with Jesus like that, I don’t know how you can possibly get this new identity. For example, in

Isak Dinesen in her great work Out of Africa has this tremendous passage. She says, “Pride is faith in the idea that God had, when he made us. […] People who have no pride are not aware of any idea of God in the making of them, and sometimes they make you doubt that there has ever been much of an idea, or else it has been lost, and who shall find it again? They have got to accept as success what others warrant to be so, and to take their happiness, and even their own selves, at the quotation of the day. They tremble, with reason, before their fate.”

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1–2 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Paul says, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and this hope will not disappoint us.”

Romans 5:1–5 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Yeah, in order to get approval, in order to get significance, you have to take yourself at the quotation of the day, what everybody else says. That’s conformity. If you want radical individuality, if you want a sense of self that is industrial strength, you don’t care what anybody says, and you don’t care even what happens. You know who you are. Jesus says, “I can give you that. I give you a new name.”

Do you see that? He says, “With my head I know I belong to God, but how do I know I’m right? How do I know my hope will not disappoint me? How do I know my hope is well-grounded?” Then he goes on and says, “… because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

With my head I know I belong to God, but how do I know my hope will not disappoint me? How do I know my hope is well-grounded? Because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Charles Spurgeon once preached an entire sermon on three words in the parable of the prodigal son “and kissed him,” called Prodigal Love for the Prodigal Son.

How do we receive that new name? A lot of people say, “Oh gosh! Okay, so Jesus. That’s very cosmic, and that’s fascinating to me. Okay, how do I get it? I want my new name, please. What are we going to do?” Some of you say, “All right, I’ll go home tonight. The Bible is sort of a holy object, so I’ll put my Bible down, and I’ll say, ‘Oh, Lord, what is my new name?’ ”

I don’t suggest you do that. Why? I’m a Presbyterian. I’m never going to suggest you do that, but guess what? Even if God gave you a little word, if suddenly ping, a little word popped into your head, it wouldn’t help you a bit. Peter already has his name. It didn’t help him. Peter already knows his new name is Rock. “You are a rock.”

Guess what? We all know the irony of this, because Peter was the least rocky of any of the disciples. He was very impetuous. At the very end of Jesus’ life, he lets Jesus down in a way almost none of the others do. It took Peter all of his life to understand and to grow into that new name.

it talks about how the father sees the returning prodigal and he runs out? There’s one place where it says the father ran out to his son and kissed him. Spurgeon preached an entire sermon on those three words, “and kissed him,” called Prodigal Love for the Prodigal Son.

In the sermon at one point he says essentially,

If God actually gave you your name tonight, if suddenly it came down on a little piece of paper, you wouldn’t understand it. The way you receive your new name, the way you get this new identity God has prepared for you, is by participating in three processes. As you participate in these three processes, you discover your name. It comes to you. It’s revealed to you, and they’re all in here.

“Some of us know what it is like to be too happy to live. The love of God has been so overpoweringly experienced by us on some occasions that we almost had to ask God to stop the delight because we could endure no more. If God had not shielded his love and glory a bit, we believe we could not have stood it.”

You notice, if you read this, you don’t see just Jesus naming people. Jesus is not here just naming. He’s also sending, twelving, and withing. Here’s what I mean by these three. When you participate in these three processes, it’ll take a long time, but you slowly, inevitably, inexorably will learn your new name.

Are you ever with Jesus like that? Do you ever know him knowing you like that? If you never experience that, I don’t know how you are going to keep your heart away from getting its identity from wealth, work, family, friends,etc.

When you experience God knowing you like that, loving you like that, then you know your distinct value and unique purpose. Without it I just don’t know how you can do it.

A. Sending. Jesus names them apostles. “You are apostles.” They had no idea what that meant. It means sent ones, but they still don’t … Jesus sends them out to do two things: preach the Word and cast out demons. Whenever in modern times people read stuff like this, you want to know, don’t you? What is that demon stuff? It comes up every week in the book of Mark, and I’m just saving it for later. We’ll talk about it, I promise. We will get to it. We can’t talk about it every single week.

To the degree you are willing to give yourself to intimacy in prayer, community, and ministry and to the number of years you give yourself to it, you will find out the name. You will come to see who you are and the things God has made you for and the ways in which he loves you. You will get that identity.

However, if you stand back from it a little bit, they are apostles. They in some ways are unique. Jesus sees this massive crowd, he goes up into the mountain, and he does leadership development. So there’s a certain sense in which he’s creating twelve apostles who, in some ways … No one else will ever do and be what the apostles were.

If you stand back a little bit, you realize what he’s actually doing is sending his people out into the world to liberate people, to free them from what binds them, to serve people through word and deed. That is exactly what every Christ-follower is sent out to do as well. What does that have to do with identity? Everything.

Identity DEVELOPS our CHARACTER.

Millions of people know these 12 names of poor fishermen and will till the world’s end, and all kinds of kings’ and powerful people’s names have perished forever. These names will never perish. Jesus says, “I can give you a name like that.” How is that possible? We haven’t accomplished anything.

Jesus says you must lose yourself to find yourself. There are oceans of wisdom in that little statement. Jesus is saying if you try to find yourself directly, you never will. If you just sit around contemplating your navel and thinking about your issues, “Who am I? I don’t know who I am,” if you directly try to find yourself, it’s like peeling an onion. There’s layer after layer, and you go on forever.

What Jesus says is instead of trying to find yourself, try to find other selves. Instead of trying to find out who you are, help other people find out who they are. Instead of working on yourself, serve others, and you will find out who you are. You can never find yourself directly. Serve other people. Pour yourself out for other people. Help unleash them from the things that bind them. Pour your life out for other people, and you will get yourself.

In , a parallel passage to this one, Jesus sends out his disciples two by two, and he gives them power to cast out demons. They come back, and they’re excited. They say, “Wow, Lord! Even the demons are subject to us.” Jesus doesn’t join their celebration but develops their character by reminding them of their identity.

Why? First of all, it’s only as you try things, only as you serve others, you come to find out what you’re good at and what you’re not so good at. That’s a big part of understanding who you are. It’s a very important way to understand your gifting, and that’s one of the ways to find out who God is calling you to be.

He says, “Rejoice not that the demons are subject to your name but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” He says, “Stop getting a name from your performance.” Jesus says, “Don’t you dare rejoice in that. Don’t get your identity from that, because tomorrow the demons might not come out. This is not the identity I’ve given you. Rejoice that your names are already engraved the Book of Life. You’re already citizens of heaven. You’re already famous.”

When the first Moses went up on the mountain and called his people together, he was very worried about their sin. At one point, that first Moses says to the Lord in

Even more than that, what gives you unique purpose, what gives you a sense of distinct value, is when you see yourself able to help other people. Jesus is saying if you actually try to find yourself directly, you’ll never find yourself, but if you try to help others instead of trying to find yourself, if you yourself just serve instead of worrying about your identity, you’re going to get a strong identity. That’s the way it works. Out of being sent emerges your name.

Exodus 32:32 ESV

But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”

What an amazing statement by Moses! He says, “I don’t want them to lose their name in the Book of Life. Let me pay the penalty for their sins, blot my name out of the Book of Life so their names can be in.” God doesn’t grant Moses’ request.

What an amazing statement by Moses! He says, “I don’t want them to lose their name in the Book of Life. Let me pay the penalty for their sins, blot my name out of the Book of Life so their names can be in.” God doesn’t grant Moses’ request.

Do you know what this means? This is New York City, and a lot of you are here for a period of time. During this time, you’re busy. You’re in school. You’re in a job. You’re here basically to build up your portfolio, to build up your credentials, to create a self. You’re here to pad your résumé. Right?

Things are different with Jesus, the true and better Moses. He too went up on a mountain to mediate a covenant,

Hebrews 12:22 ESV

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

Hebrews 12:22–24 ESV

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Jesus’ name was blotted out, as it were, so our names could be engraved forever.

Jesus’ name was blotted out, as it were, so our names could be engraved forever.

Jesus’ name was blotted out, as it were, so our names could be engraved forever.

So you’re very busy doing that, but you cram in going to church, maybe. You come and there’s good music and there’s good preaching and there are good classes and you meet a few people, but if you’re too busy to serve, if you’re so busy developing a self that you’re too busy to serve, you’re too busy even to usher, you’re too busy to involve yourself with the poor, you’re too busy to serve, you’re never going to find out what’s written on that white stone, because it’s in serving that you find out who you are, not in coursework, not in accruing money.

The Bible says Jesus is our High priest in heaven. In the Old Testament the names of the children of Israel were written on a breastplate which was placed over the heart of the priest. So, when the priest went before the Lord, he had the names of his people over his heart. Standing before the shekinah glory of God, God would look at the priest and at the names of his people, he saw an absolute beauty and took great delight.

He who finds himself loses himself. He who loses himself will find himself. In the process of serving, you find your name.

What I am teaching you is not mere symbolism but substance. It just not for Sunday but for every day and second of your life. Here is the substance. Here is what Jesus is saying to us today, “Tomorrow if your life goes well, don’t get a big head. Rejoice not in things going well but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. If tomorrow things go poorly, pick up your heart, because that’s not your identity. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

B. Twelving. What does that mean? When Jesus went up into the mountain and called not 8, not 10, not 13, not 15, but 12, everybody knew what that meant. Do you know what that means? Jesus is reminding everyone very strongly of Moses. Moses went up into a mountain, called the twelve tribes together, and constituted them a new nation.

At this moment Jesus Christ stands before the Father with your name written on His heart and the Father sees you in Him bringing him great delight. To the degree that you know that and are melted by that you can handle anything. Any success you have will not inflate your worth or any failure won’t punctured it because you name is recorded in the only book that matters.

As C.S. Lewis says, “… to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” To be a Christian means the applause of God, fame with God, acceptance, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the very heart of things. “The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.”

Jesus, the second Moses, the ultimate Moses, comes up into the mountain, and calls 12 together, and this is his way of saying, “I am creating a new people. I’m creating a new nation. I’m creating a new humanity, a new community.” In that community and only deep in that community are you ever going to find out who you are.

My favorite illustration of this is … You realize I’m always hearing my voice on recordings, much more than 99.999 percent of you ever do, and yet guess what? I hate it still as much as you do when you hear your voice. When you hear your voice, don’t you hate it? Do you know why? Why do you cringe when you hear your voice? You are too close to yourself to know what you really sound like. You don’t really hear your voice through your ears. You hear your voice through the bones in your neck.

That’s available to you. Go get it. Let’s pray

As a result, your voice sounds far richer and more mellifluent to yourself than it does to anyone else. So when you hear a recording of yourself, you say, “Whose whiny, pinched voice is that? That can’t be me. I must have had a cold. That’s not what I sound like.” All your friends are there saying, “Yeah, that’s what you sound like.” You have no idea what you sound like, or by definition, the character flaws that most hurt you, the character flaws that are hurting your relationships, that are holding you back by definition are the ones you’re in denial about.

They’re the ones you don’t see. You have no idea who you are unless you have some people you are in deep enough community with, and you’ve given them a hunting license, and you’ve given them a green light and a warrant to tell you what the worst things are about you. If there’s nobody who dares to do that to you, you’re not in community, and you’ll never find out who you are, because it’s only as others tell you who you are and show you the layer upon layer upon layer of self-regard and anxiety and weakness and neediness. You won’t admit it.

It’s only through community you will see the mess you are and go to Jesus in repentance, and you’ll throw yourself in desperation at him, saying, “You have to help me.” That’s the only way you’re ever going to become the person Jesus is calling you to be … only through ministry, through the process, secondly, of community, and thirdly, through the process of intimacy.

C. Withing. It says in verse 14, “He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him …” That’s the language of intimacy. He appoints them to be with him. With him? Yeah, he doesn’t appoint them to meet with him Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 to 1 in class but to live with him: a relationship, a life on a life.

The Bible holds out the promise of remarkable, direct, real experience of love, and if you’re never with Jesus like that, I don’t know how you can possibly get this new identity. For example, in , Paul says, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and this hope will not disappoint us.”

Do you see that? He says, “With my head I know I belong to God, but how do I know I’m right? How do I know my hope will not disappoint me? How do I know my hope is well-grounded?” Then he goes on and says, “… because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist preacher of the nineteenth century, once preached an entire sermon on three words in the parable of the prodigal son. Do you know in it talks about how the father sees the returning prodigal and he runs out? There’s one place where it says the father ran out to his son and kissed him. Spurgeon preached an entire sermon on those three words, “and kissed him,” called Prodigal Love for the Prodigal Son.

In the sermon at one point he says essentially, “Some of us know what it is like to be too happy to live. The love of God has been so overpoweringly experienced by us on some occasions that we almost had to ask God to stop the delight because we could endure no more. If God had not shielded his love and glory a bit, we believe we could not have stood it.”

Are you ever with Jesus like that? Do you ever know him knowing you like that? If you never experience that, I don’t know how you are going to keep your heart away from getting its identity from wealth or from art or from your work or from your friends or from relationships or from sex or from family. I don’t know how you’re going to do it.

Then you won’t have a self unless with some regularity sometimes you experience the love of God poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit. When you experience God knowing you like that, loving you like that, then you know your distinct value and unique purpose. Without it I just don’t know how you can do it.

Through intimacy in prayer, through community, and through ministry, as you’re willing to do this and give yourself and to the degree you give yourself to it and to the number of years you give yourself to it, you will find out the name on that stone. You will come to see who you are and the things God has made you for and the ways in which he loves you. You will get that identity.

Do you know what? It’s interesting the contrast to Jesus going up on the mountain and naming and having solitude and community. The contrast is the crowd, and this crowd is New York City, except it’s worse now because the crowd now has email and cell phones. You are busy, and I’m busy, and we’re too busy either for solitude or community. Christianity holds out radical individuality. Christianity says, “You are unique in the universe. There’s no one you have to conform to because of God’s love for you.”

In some ways through incredible solitude, you can find out who God wants you to be and how God loves you. On the other hand, it’s through incredible community, sharing your life with people, getting deeper, letting them into the depths of your being and you get into the depths of their being, but you’re too busy. We’re too busy for either solitude or community, are we not, because of New York? Resist that. Fight that. You can’t live that way.

3. In Jesus we learn why we receive a new name

We have to end this way. Why is this possible? Why can we receive a new name? In ancient times, to get a name meant more than to get a label. Do you know in the Shakespeare play Henry V after the battle of Agincourt, Henry V is reading a list of the dead, the British casualties? He reads it, lists four or five names, and then he says, “None else of name, and of all other men but five and twenty.” What? Do you mean the other 25 didn’t have a name?

Of course they had names, but in ancient times, to have a name meant you were a hero. To have a name meant you had been knighted. To have a name meant you were a person of stature. Here’s Jesus having the audacity to say, “I give a name to every single human being who comes into contact with me. You’re famous forever.”

Millions of people know these 12 names of poor fishermen and will till the world’s end, and all kinds of kings’ and powerful people’s names have perished forever. These names will never perish. Jesus says, “I can give you a name like that.” How is that possible? We haven’t accomplished anything.

In , a parallel passage to this one, Jesus sends out his disciples two by two, and he gives them power to cast out demons. They come back, and they’re excited. They say, “Wow, Lord! Even the demons are subject to us.” Jesus brings them up short. He just doesn’t party with them.

He says, “No, rejoice not that the demons are subject to your name, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” He says, “Look at what you’re doing. There you are getting a name from your performance.” They’re coming back saying, “Hey, we’re famous. Everybody wherever we go says, ‘Those are the guys who can cast out demons.’ Yeah, do you want to see me?”

Jesus says, “Don’t you dare rejoice in that. Don’t get your identity from that, because tomorrow the demons might not come out. That’s not the identity I’ve given you. Rejoice that your names are already written. They’re already engraved. They’re already in the Book of Life. You’re already citizens of heaven. You’re already famous.”

How could that be? When the first Moses went up on the mountain and called his people together, he was very worried about their sin. At one point, that first Moses says to the Lord in , “But now please forgive my people’s sin, and if not, then blot me out of the Book of Life.” What an amazing statement by Moses!

He says, “I don’t want them to lose their name in the Book of Life. If I could be of any help, if you could blot my name from the Book of Life, if I could pay the penalty for their sins, blot my name out of the Book of Life so their names can be in.” Of course, God doesn’t do that. Things are different with the second Moses.

The second Moses was a man on the mountain. He also was a mediator of a covenant, and says, “You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the church of those whose names are written in heaven, to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant and his sprinkled blood.” Jesus’ name was blotted out, as it were, so our names could be engraved forever. Do you know what? It’s all metaphorical, sure, but it’s wonderful metaphor. The Bible says Jesus is a priest in heaven.

Do you know if you go back to the Old Testament where the names of the children of Israel are written? Over the heart of the priest, on the breastplate, on stones of beauty, on diamonds and rubies and emeralds, so when the priest went before the Lord, he had the names of the children of his people over his heart before the shekinah glory of God, and when God looked at the priest and looked at the names of his people, he saw an absolute beauty.

Guess what? That’s not symbolism. Jesus says, “Tomorrow if your life goes well, don’t get a big head. Rejoice not in things going well, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. If tomorrow things go poorly, pick up your heart, because that’s not your identity. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

To the degree you know Jesus Christ stands before the Father and because of Jesus Christ your name is written over his heart and he stands before the Father, when the Father sees you in him, he sees an absolute beauty, he delights in you, to the degree you are melted by that and you know that, you can handle anything. In success you won’t get a big head. In failure you won’t be punctured, because you are famous.

As C.S. Lewis says, “… to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” To be a Christian means the applause of God, fame with God, acceptance, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the very heart of things. “The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.” That’s available to you. Go get it. Let’s pray.

Thank you, Father, that your Son gives us a new identity, a new name, and we pray that you would help us participate in those processes by which that name is more and more revealed to us. We also thank you for the infinite sacrifice he made in order for our names to be permanently etched and written imperishably in heaven. We don’t know what all those things mean … the white stone, the priesthood, the names written … but we know it means the applause of God. It means your delight.

It means the door we’ve been knocking on through our efforts to work and our efforts to be loved and our efforts to build families and our efforts to accomplish … The door we’ve been knocking on has opened. It has been unlocked from the inside. We will pass through, and we pray that you would help us live our lives on the basis of that belief and breathe into us the greatness and the glory that should characterize our lives because we know these things. We ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.

Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.