A New Name

Introduction

One of the things I most looked forward to before our kids were born was to wrestle through what we would name our children. It’s one of those things that can either bring a husband and wife together or clearly expose sharp differences and strong opinions.

Every parent, no matter who they are is going to have a pretty strong opinion on what their child’s name will be.

After all, this is the name the child will carry with them throughout their life. And so, many parents will spend weeks, if not months researching, discussing and debating all kinds of names because a name means something. It carries a sense of value, identity, and worth.

Jerry Seinfeld once joked how so many butler’s names were Jeeves. He goes on to say, if you named your child “Jeeves,” you’ve pretty much mapped out his future.

A name means something. It’s important.

We’re getting here to a portion in the book of Mark where Jesus’ popularity is reaching fever pitch.

Context

In verse 7, Mark says that a large crowd was following Jesus from all over. And he lists where everyone was coming from. A large crowd from Galilee, from Judah, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan river, and even as far north as Tyre and Sidon.

Now the cities of Tyre and Sidon were about a hundred miles north of Jerusalem and Judea. Idumea was far to the south of where Jesus currently was so get the picture in your mind of how far people are travelling just to be near Jesus because they wanted a miracle for themselves.

That’s what verse 10 tells us. They were pressing toward him because they wanted healing from their ailments. They just wanted to touch him, get their miracle, and then most likely be on their way. The picture painted here by Mark is not one where people were eager to follow Jesus, to die to themselves and proclaim Jesus as Lord of their lives. But more of, “give me what I want and I’ll be on my way.”

And again, get a picture of this scene. People are desperate, they’ve travelled a long way, and we can get the sense from Mark’s language here that they were trampling over others to get to Jesus.

This was a dangerous scene. So much so that Jesus tells his disciples in verse 9 to have a boat ready for him to get onto cause he’s about to get crushed.

What we’re seeing here is similar to how human beings respond in the presence of celebrity. When someone famous or well-known is near, the crowds come running. Jesus no doubt is the most famous person in all the region, and yet, how does Jesus respond to this soaring popularity?

Verse 13.

Mark 3:13 “And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.”

I believe verses 7-12 are setting the scene for us but I think the main focus that Mark is drawing our attention to is found in verses 13-19. Where most people would have been thrilled to have found fame and fortune and popularity, I mean can you imagine what some of Jesus’ disciples were thinking in this moment, “we’ve arrived!” “Everyone wants to be around you, and we get to walk with you!”

Again, remember that Jesus’ mission was greatly misunderstood. The Jews thought he was the one who was going to overthrow Rome. They thought he was going to establish a new kingdom on earth and then they, the disciples, as we’ll get to later on in Mark thought they thought they were going to rule with him. I mean, they had to in this moment begin to think, this is awesome. It’s time. Let’s go.

And what’s Jesus do? Jesus withdrew from these large crowds. He went up into the mountains and called his disciples to himself and named them.

This is odd. This doesn’t seem like a normal human response to newfound, soaring popularity. So, what is going on? This seemed like the worst time for Jesus to withdraw. I means thousands of people have come from all over, some for over a hundred miles to see him and he withdraws from them and instead starts giving his disciples new names? And so, what does this all mean? What’s Mark leading us to in showing us this scene with Jesus and his disciples?

I think it’s something pretty important. We’re going to learn from Jesus here how he transforms and changes people’s lives. We’re going to see how we receive from Jesus our true mission in life which transcends mere fame, or popularity. It’s something eternal.

You see, Jesus never focuses on temporal things. He’s always focusing on the eternal. Things that last and have actual meaning to them.

The Problem

Our problem is that we get too easily fixed on earthly treasures, on things that just don’t last but give us a temporary boost of adrenaline. So, often, our metrics for success in life are off.

So, let me give you an example of this within the church world.

If you were to google, “most successful churches in the U.S.” what do you think would pop up first?

It’s a list of the biggest megachurches in America. Now, this isn’t a knock against large churches. Statistically, we are a large church in America. Almost 80% of all Protestant churches in America average less than 100 members. Our size alone puts us with only about 10% of all other churches.

And so, this isn’t a knock against large churches but our metric for success is off. Size does not equate success. That is a temporal, earthly metric. All I’d have to do is teach a series on sex or how God wants you to be wealthy, market the mess out of it and we’d have this place packed out for a little while.

The formula’s pretty easy if we really wanted to just draw a crowd. Don’t talk about sin, don’t talk about a bloody cross, don’t talk about submission to Jesus and God’s Word, allow people to live how they want to live without any pushback from God’s Word, and talk about things that interest them. Boom, successful church. Packed house every Sunday. Speaking requests, book deals. Top of google’s most successful churches in America.

You see, Jesus’ focus was never on the temporal. It was never on the quick fixes for life. His message didn’t really attract a lot of people. His miracles did because people wanted the quick fix for life’s problems as they saw them, but Jesus always sought to dig deeper into the heart.

A few weeks ago, we read from Mark 2 of how Jesus healed a paralytic. You remember the story? His friends take him to Jesus, there’s a large crowd around him so they tear open a hole in the roof and lower the man down to Jesus to be healed.

What’s Jesus do first? He says to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Now, let me ask you. Did Jesus, in that moment of forgiveness heal him? Did Jesus fix the deepest wound in that man’s life? Absolutely he did.

But from a human perspective, don’t we read that and think at least for a second, man he got gypped if that’s all Jesus does is forgive his sins. He’s there because he’s paralyzed and wants to walk. We want to see the miraculous, we want to be wowed. Jesus always focuses on the eternal. On the things that truly matter.

You see, I think this is what Mark’s trying to draw our attention to in this part of his gospel. What really matters. And it’s not the crowds, it’s not fame or popularity. It’s not being adored by others. It’s not the earthly treasures that we seek so often. It’s the eternal. It’s the new name Jesus gives us as he calls us to himself.

I want us to look at three transformative and transcendent truths from Jesus’ interaction with his disciples that truly matter .

Number one.

Jesus calls us.

Look at verse 13 again,

Mark 3:13 “And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.”

Now, I don’t believe this is the moment when the disciples became true followers of Jesus, but I do believe this is a picture of salvation.

God calls us to himself, and we come to him.

None of the disciples came to Jesus on their own. They were called to him.

So, let’s review quickly.

Mark 1:16-18 “Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”

Mark 1:19-20 “And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.”

Mark 2:13-14 “He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”

None of the disciples sought Jesus out. He sought them out.

And so listen, none of us in this room sought Jesus out. He sought us out. He called us. Salvation belongs to Him, not to us.

And here’s why. We’re sinners and our sin has blinded us to the beauty and worth of Jesus. And it’s even worse than that. In our sin, apart from Christ we’re dead and unable to seek him out.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

John 12:39-40 “Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.””

Romans 3:10-11 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—”

We have brought nothing to the table except our sin. Jesus brings to the table, new life, forgiveness, grace and mercy. In fact, we can’t even come to the table until Jesus gives us new life.

It is God who has called us to himself because of his love, because of his grace, because of his mercy, not because of anything you and I have ever done. In fact, he calls us to himself in spite of all our brokenness and rebellion. In spite of our crippling weakness so that his power might be displayedIt is God who justifies, it is God who saves us because of the richness of his mercy.

Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Church, our worship of God is not based upon our merit but our lack of it and God’s rich and abundant supply of his grace.

Number two. As Christ calls us we also see that,

Jesus names us.

Check out verse 14.

Mark 3:14 “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him.”

God names things differently than we do.

When we name something or someone, our hope is that what is named lives up to or becomes the essence of what the name represents.

So, let me illustrate it this way.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word, “Titanic”?

Most of us, if we have an elementary understanding of history know that the Titanic represents failure, weakness, disaster. A ship that was sunk by a block of ice.

But the word, “titanic” literally means, “exceptional strength, size, and power.” It didn’t live up to its name.

I’ll give you another example. What comes to mind when you hear the name, “Ted Bundy” or Ted Kaczynski”?

Mass murderers correct? Evil, dark, wicked.

Well, the name “Ted” or “Theodore” means “gift of God.” Well, they both fell short of their name.

But when God names, what he names or declares becomes or is what he names it to be.

We see this in creation. In Genesis 1 God says, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And it goes on to say that he called the light “Day” and the darkness he called “Night.”

What God named, it became. He didn’t see the potential of light, light became light because God named it.

What God names, it becomes.

Jesus here names the twelve. The word here is “appoints” them. It’s actually a tricky word to translate from the Greek into English but it’s a word being conveyed here as an artist creating a work of art.

Jesus here is not looking at these guys thinking, “I think they have what it takes.” I mean, this was a who’s who list of misfits. No, Jesus names them and they become what he calls them to be and gives them what it takes.

Jesus’ naming has that power.

You know what your name is?

Through Jesus, you are his child. You are an adopted son or daughter of God most High. You are a friend of the King. You are a new creation. You are a saint. You are justified. You are loved.

Do you know what this means? In Christ we have received a new identity that no one can take from us. That because of the work of Christ, we belong to him and with that have a unique sense of value, worth, and purpose. We have been named by God himself. We are now what he calls us to be.

C.S. Lewis once wrote,

“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.” - C.S. Lewis

And because of that, lastly we see that,

Jesus sends us.

Verse 14-15,

Mark 3:14-15 “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.”

Jesus names the twelve, “apostles.” It’s a word that means “sent ones.” And they’re given two tasks.

To preach the gospel.

To cast out demons.

Here’s what’s happening in this scene. Jesus is doing some leadership development.

You see, the text began with this massive crowd coming from miles around to see Jesus. They weren’t there to see the disciples. They wanted Jesus. But Jesus withdraws from them to focus on developing and equipping the disciples (a word which means follower), who he now names apostles (a word which means sent ones) to then go and be sent into the world, into the crowds proclaiming that what people truly need is forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

He names them and then gives them the authority to go.

He’s saying, go into the world and proclaim the freedom that comes through faith in Jesus and love people, care for people, serve people.

Now, the apostles were and are the foundation upon which the church of Jesus Christ was built with Christ himself being the cornerstone but the church now is being built upon that foundation through us who are also named by God himself and now sent to liberate people and to serve them through both word and deed.

2 Corinthians 4:5-7 “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

We have been saved and now we are sent. The God who has named us now empowers us to go proclaim freedom and liberty by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

We are not called to be successful by worldly standards, but we are called to be fruitful. And so, let’s go into the darkness with the light of the gospel and the power of the Spirit to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight for the blind, love for the unloveable and grace and mercy for sinners.

(Communion)