The Responsibility of a Name

Let us go before the Lord in prayer.

Our Father in heaven,

How wonderful it is to be here today, both in person and in spirit, we are grateful that we can praise you in song as a unified voice. We are grateful the the amazing technology the you have empowered us to create so that those who are not with us at this time can still here the message being presented. Lord I pray that my words are your words and that we can be motivated to face this year boldly. Thank you so much that our success is not based on our performance, but rather on the righteousness of your son. May your Spirit who is present be known to us at this time, and may the Spirit speak rather than I. We pray this this in the Holy name of Jesus Christ.

AMEN.

Intro:

Today’s message comes from 1 John 2:28-3:24, now I could stand before you and read God’s word to you as you follow along within your translation, but today I do not think that this is the way I should be presenting this message to you. Rather, I want to make this message personal and real. This does not mean that I am abandoning God’s word, instead I don’t want to hide behind His word, which is a habit that I have formed ever since I started preaching. I have been so scared to own the Word that I would not even try to preach my current understanding. Instead I would make my words flowery and simply regurgitate what was already presented upon the pages. Don’t get me wrong, that is not a bad thing, and it certainly is the safest way to speak God’s word, but I have begun to notice that I am not being radically transformed like I when I first became a Christian, because the side effect of my Bible College education is making the truths of God an intellectual exercise and not inspirational experience. I believe the core principle of what I am preaching on can best be understood within a lesson from my childhood.

I grew up in a home where image and reputation mattered. This most likely due to the raising my father had, but I also believe it was also due to growing up in an LDS household. How members of the congregation viewed your family mattered, image is everything, which not necessarily wrong, but it can become a distraction. Anyways my dad would always have this saying as I was leaving the house, “remember whose name you carry.” That phrase would irritate me to no end, because I never understood what he meant until I was a little older and he sat me down to explain himself.

He said, “son when you leave this house people know you by the name of Austin, but there is another name that you carry that ties you to me. If you were to act in such a way that was to bring you shame or embarrassment then you also place that upon me because they know whose son you are. Do not shame my name.” When my dad told me those words I was astonished. I had never thought of how I was effecting the reputation of my dad, and I took that seriously for a time; but I am sad to say that I cannot claim that I did not shame my family’s name. It also saddens me to realize that due to some unfortunate events within my family I walked away from my father not caring about what the Baker name meant. It was not until I sat down to write this sermon that I remembered those words of my father. That is why I have titled this sermon, The Responsibility of a Name, because today’s scriptural passage, drives home that point.

Identity of the World:

To understand what Saint John is driving at we must first understand the conflict of two identities, this conflict was presented to us by our brother John last week about where our loyalties lie. Those loyalties are between two camps: the camp of God and the camp of the condemned, and these camps are not defined by humans but by God, He determines who goes where by His presented standard. Which is the standard of holiness. What break that standard is sin, and when this occurs the guiltily are banished from the camp of God, and all were banished because all have sinned. Yet, when Christ took the sins of the whole world upon Himself He presented an opportunity of reentry into the camp of God.

So why has there not been a mad rush for the gates of heaven which is the boundary of the camp of God?

I believe it has to do with the power of deception, which is ironic, because deception has no power accept for he power that it is given, once truth is seen and accepted lies become no more than vapor, and yet the lies of Satan are destructive because they blind people from the truth, much like a thick fog. Physically fog is not harmful, it cannot cut, nor can it batter. Its danger is in its ability to hide details, which leads us to questioning our location and our safety. Yet it is easy to rob a fog of its power, do you know how? By knowing what lies beyond the fog. It is through God’s Word that we know our path long before we arrive at the forks of life, and yet we still question and give power to that fog of lies, which could lead us astray. This is the issue with the World and why those who are devoted to its ways do not dash for the gates of heaven. The logic of the world wants to believe that there is no God because then guilt is a figment of the imagination. The logic of the world wants to believe that like ice-cream there are 51 flavors of righteousness that leads to eternal satisfaction. The logic of the world wants to believe that what is beastly is natural for human behavior. The logic of the world wants to believe that humanity is improving towards perfection, and yet the the world is bathing and dining within its own sewage. This is because the logic of the world, is the logic of the the camp of the condemned, which is the logic of sin, a logic that tolerates deception. It is at this crux that the residence of the camp of the condemned lies, they have forgotten the name that they carry. Rather the logic of the world has taken the description of sinner and redefined into a badge of honor, and this self-deception has placed the residence into a state spiritual hypnosis where a crude replica of holiness, crafted by human hands, is considered better than the holiness of God. I know this to be true because I have uttered such words with my own mouth.

That was until I caught a glimpse of the camp of God out of the corner of my eye.

Identity of Christians:

As I have already said we become residence of the camp of God when we accept through faith the Work of God through Christ. It is in the acceptance of truth that frees us from the coming tragedy of the camp of the condemned. But do you know what keeps us their? Do you know what prevents us from flip-flopping in our salvation?

It is a the word abide.

I never paid attention to that word, because it use to be one of those words that I would just read over, because I thought I understood the general idea enough to not warrant a second look. How wrong I have been? I am know realizing that every word of truth matters, because even the most insignificant can become earth shattering. Now this may not be new to you, but please be patient with me because I like this new word, because abide simply means to stay put. That’s it stay. That means stay put in your thoughts with God, stay put in your obedience, stay put in your faith, trust that when you cling to hull of God like a barnacle, there is none but God who can remove you, and He will not do so if you abide. Is that not amazing? The words of John are even more astounding when read with this in mind.

1 John 2:28–3:1 (ESV): 28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

The camp of God is empowered by Him, and our confidence is found within the truth of His words; and when the fog of lies tries to rob us of our sight, we can walk boldly through it because we know the way to our destination, which is the great family reunion. It is found within His Word, which is the Truth, the Life and the Way, the incarnation Jesus Christ our King and High Priest!

Hallelujah!

Let’s go home and celebrate; because that all there is to it, right!?

The Responsibility of Christians:

Yes and no, because we are still here. I don’t mean here in the church building, but here within this sin ridden world. We are both in the Kingdom and have not yet arrived in that kingdom. We are in this weird phase, where we know the super awesome birthday present that is waiting for us, but we do not have it in our hands. It is so frustrating because we can tell others about it, we can show them God’s texts and photos of it, but we cannot present the tangible proof of that truth.

So then what do we do until that time? Well…

We live our life as if we possess it. It is like being a child pretending that you are an NBA superstar with a bucket and a soccer ball. You imagine what it would be like and you model all of the pieces with what is available to you, but you know as well as your friends that this is not close to the real thing; but you continue to practice, and there are times of failure, but you are still focused on the dream.

This is what the Apostle John is presenting, we are the children of God, and we must practice this truth, through the keeping of God’s commandments. Which is defined in 1 John 3:23-24:

1 John 3:23–24 (ESV): 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Conclusion:

So going back to the words of my earthly father. We must remember whose name we carry, because if we claim to have His name them we better act like. We need to practice the behaviors of the child of God. Just like the other phrase my dad would say to me, “son, a Baker does not act like that.” The same goes for us, our father in heaven too looks at us and says, “a child of God does not act like a sinner.” Those words are not words of disowning, but rather they are word of reminding. Remember whose name you carry. We do not make a habit of sin, rather through the Holy Spirit we develop the habits of righteousness; and it is in those habits of righteousness that attracts others to Christ. Our bucket and soccer ball looks silly and even foolish, but that is the beauty of being child like, if the other neighborhood kids can see the pure joy of your experience they cannot help but be intrigued by the source of that joy.

So let us step boldly into the fog of lies, staying true to the course that lead to our family reunion. This is down with the intention of practicing righteousness, which is summed up in the commandments of Christ. Let us imagine the awe and joy of being a child superstar with presence of God through our practice. And Remember whose name you carry.