Proper 9 Wednesday Evening

All of us experience ups and downs, mountaintops and valleys, joys and frustrations in our day-to-day discipleship for Christ. But God’s Word Possesses God’s Power, and in today’s text, our Lord Jesus not only realistically recognizes this state of affairs in our discipleship, but, above all, encourages us with the good news that joy will have the last word in our discipleship. Jesus assures us today that

The Hardships and Joys of Discipleship for Christ Climax in the Ultimate Joy: Our Names Written in Heaven.

Discipleship Will Likely Bring Hardships

In other words, living the Christian life isn’t always easy.

Jesus describes some of these hardships in the verses before our text; we heard them last week.

Like Jesus, you may have “nowhere to lay [your] head” (Lk 9:58).

You may have to “leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Lk 9:60).

We may be severed from family ties (Lk 9:61–62).

Jesus describes more of these hardships in our text.

There may more work than there are workers to perform it (Lk 10:2).

We are “lambs in the midst of wolves” (Lk 10:3).

We may not have an abundance of material provisions (Lk 10:4).

You may experience rejection of your Gospel witness (Lk 10:10–11, 13–16).

Discipleship Will Certainly Bring Joys

You will experience joys in your discipleship for Christ.

Jesus describes some of these joys in our text.

You can exercise the privilege and power of prayer (Lk 10:2).

You can experience acceptance of our Gospel witness (Lk 10:5-6, 8 ).

You may be privileged to heal the sick (Lk 10:9).

You can declare the good news of the kingdom of God (Lk 10:9).

We can stand in the place of Christ; you can actually be regarded as his representatives (Lk 10:16).

The power of Satan is conquered (Lk 10:17-19).

Jesus summarizes the joys of discipleship outside our text.

Lk 10:23–24 “23 Turning to the disciples, he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 Indeed, I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things that you are seeing, yet did not see them, and to hear the things that you are hearing, yet did not hear them.’”

1 Cor 2:9 “But as it is written: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no human mind has conceived— that is what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Discipleship Results in God’s Gift—Your Name is Written in Heaven

The climactic joy of our discipleship for Christ is God’s gift to us of our names being written in heaven (v 20).

You are saved by his name

Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

Rom 10:13 “Yes, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Our names are “engraved . . . on the palms of [God’s] hands” (Is 49:16).

God has “called you by name” (Is 43:1 “But now this is what the Lord says, the Lord who created you, O Jacob, the Lord who formed you, O Israel. Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.”

You received Christ’s name in Baptism (Mt 28:19).

Your names are written in the book of eternal life (Rev 20:15).

“What’s in a name?” This familiar citation from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is relevant to our consideration of Jesus’ assurance in Lk 10:20 that our “names are written in heaven.” Because of changes in language over which we have no control, the word name does not mean as much to modern man as it did to people of generations past. Today a name is primarily a tag by which we differentiate one person from another. But such was not always the case. Years ago, a name involved one’s honor, reputation, integrity, personality, ancestry, and descendants. Years ago, a name was something one staked his life on, took oaths on, or fought duels over.

The point is that name in our text is another word for our self, our person. When Jesus says that our “names are written in heaven,” it is another way of saying that you are destined for heaven.

I cannot think of anything better than being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Yes, following Jesus has its ups and downs. BUT,

Uplifted by the Lord’s assurance that our “names are written in heaven” (Lk 10:20), we abound “in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord [our] labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58). We continue to worship that “name [of the Lord] under heaven . . . by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), and we continue to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).