5 -Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 – Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 – but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 – And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 – Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 – 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.
NAMES are very interesting things. Think of it. You can be standing in a crowded, noisy room—and if someone calls your name—your ears perk up. Somehow you are able to hear that combination of consonants and vowels even amidst a cacophony of other sounds.
A name can compel friends and family members to make a long journey to memorials like this one in downtown D.C. where they search and rejoice when they find that name carved in stone. Then they run their fingers over it or make a tracing of that name on paper…as if the name those letters formed was something precious. And—our names ARE precious to us. I mean, so much of our IDENTITY is caught up in the letters that combine to single us out from others.
I’m reminded of the story of the little girl who went to Vacation Bible School. The teacher gave everyone yarn name-tags to wear around their necks. After the recreation time, one little girl, whose name tag had slipped behind her, came running up to her teacher and excitedly proclaimed, “Teacher, Teacher, I lost my price tag!”
Well, we do tend to value our names like a price tag—and this is reflected in the fact that parents go to such great lengths to select the perfect name for their children. We go to all this trouble because we believe a name can be very important to a child’s development—and believe it or not, science bears this out. One psychologist studied the names of 15,000 juvenile delinquents…
…and he discovered that those with odd or embarrassing names were in trouble four times as much as kids who had more traditional—accepted names.
And—speaking of embarrassing names—I read a true story once about a couple whose little girl was name was pronounced “Femily” — like “Emily” with an “F.” Someone asked them how they came to choose such an unusual name and the mother said, “Oh, we didn’t name her. The nurses at the hospital did. When they brought her to me the first time, her name was on a little wrist band— ‘PHEMALLEY JONES.’ We decided we liked the name and we kept it.” The person then asked, “So how do you spell Phemalley?” The mother said, “Just like it sounds, F – E – M – A – L – E—Female!”
Well, the significance of a name is nothing new—the Bible tells us that it’s been around since the very beginning.
In the Scripture many times when someone’s name is mentioned the writer will say what the name means, or use the meaning of the name in a sentence that describes why that name was given. For example, Genesis 4:25 says that,“Eve gave birth to a son and named him SETH, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel.” (Genesis 4:25) And the word “Seth” means “granted.” When Pharaoh’s daughter took a three-month-old baby from a basket floating among the reeds of the Nile, she named him “Moses” which in Hebrew meant, “drawn out.” And of course that’s what Moses was….DRAWN OUT…PULLED OUT…of the Nile river.
Many times in the Bible people actually lived up to the meaning of their names.
For example: when Rebekah gave birth to twins, one was hairy, and the other came out of the womb grasping his brother’s heel. So she named the first one “Esau” which means, “hairy” and the second “Jacob” which means, “he grabs the heel.” And those names were very accurate in predicting the kind of men they became. The Bible records that Esau turned out to be a “bear” of a man—a hunter—a woodsman. I think he probably had to shave twice a day! And his brother became a grabber—remember how he conspired to successfully grab Esau’s birthright?
We see this principle of a person living up to his name in the New Testament as well when Jesus told Simon that He was changing his name to PETER, which means, “rock” and that is what Peter became—someone with a rocklike faith in Jesus.
Well, I think it is interesting to note that when time became full—when the time was finally right for God to clothe His Son in human flesh, He did not leave the naming up to Joseph and Mary. No, God exercised His privilege as a parent and chose a name for His Son. He even sent an angel to make sure Mary and Joseph gave Him the name He had selected. Do you remember the words of that Christmas text from Matthew 18? The angel said,“You are to give Him the name JESUS, because He will save His people from their sins.”
As I’m sure you have no doubt noticed, this next hymn in our study of the great hymns of our faith is a hymn about the NAME of Jesus. It first appeared in November, 1799, in a periodical called, The Gospel Magazine. The author of this hymn text was Rev.Edward Perronet. His grandparents had fled Catholic France, going first to Switzerland, then to England. Edward’s father had become a vicar in the Anglican Church—and Edward followed in his father’s footsteps. For several years this hymn writer was closely allied with the Wesley’s and traveled with them participating in their adventures. For example: in John Wesley’s journal, we find this entry: “Edward Perronet was thrown down and rolled in mud and mire. Stones were hurled and windows broken.” Eventually though Edward broke with the Wesleys over various Methodist policies and the break was so strong that John Wesley excluded Perronet’s hymns from Methodist hymnals. Edward went off to pastor a small independent church in Canterbury, where he died January 22, 1792—seven years before this hymn first appeared in print. His last words were,“Glory to God in the height of His divinity! Glory to God in the depth of His humanity! Glory to God in His all-sufficiency! Into His hands I commend my spirit.” Great last words wouldn’t you agree? They are the kind of words we would expect to come from someone who wrote such a great hymn of our faith.
Now—as I said—the subject of this hymn is the NAME of Jesus—so let’s talk about that. What can we say about His name—a name that is above all names? As we continue I want you to know that I am indebted to Dr. David Jeremiah for much of my outline.
(1) First of all we should note that it is an ESTEEMED name.
Bernard of Clarivoux once wrote,
No voice can sing, nor heart can frame, nor can the memory find;
A sweeter sound than Thy blest name, O Savior of mankind.
And Bernard was expressing the opinion of billions—for we all LOVE the name—JESUS. Did you know that in the Gospels, the Christ is called by that particular name over 500 times—and according to my on line concordance the name, “JESUS” appears a total of 1276 times in the New Testament. To me this says that, of all the names and of all the titles that are given to the Christ, the one most LOVED by His followers is that simple name, “Jesus.”
But Scripture isn’t the only place that we find this name to be highly esteemed. If we were to glance through our HYMN BOOK, we would discover that over the centuries the hymn writers seem to prefer this name as well—for they have memorialized it in numerous hymns…songs like, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,” “Take the Name of Jesus With You,” “Blessed Be the Name,” “There Is A Name I Love to Hear” and “Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know” — not to mention Edward Perronet’s hymn.
In my days as a minister of music we used to play a game at adult choir socials in which we divided up into teams of four or five singers and each team was given fifteen minutes to come up with as many songs as they could on a specific theme. When time was up each team would then take turns singing a song and if your team picked the one that another team sang you’d have to cross it off your list and sing another song on the theme and this would continue with each team taking a turn until only one team was left with unclaimed songs—and that team would win. I know it may not sound like it in our day of “Wii-this” and “Wii-that” but trust me—it was a lot of fun.
Well, if we were to play that game as a congregation today—if we were to divide up into teams and list all the songs we could think of that have to do with the name of Jesus—well, we’d go on and on and on, because there are thousands of hymns and choruses based on this particular name of our Lord! And the reason this is true is because this is a name that has been and still is LOVED. In fact, a song comes to mind. Sing with me…
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….there’s just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….let all heaven and earth proclaim!
Kings and Kingdoms shall all pass away,
But there’s something about that name!
This leads to the second thing I want to point out about this particular name of our Lord…
(2)…It is an EASY name.
I mean it’s not hard to pronounce or spell. It’s easy to say and remember. It’s only got two syllables—just five letters—spelled just like it sounds. It’s an EASY name. By the way, did you know there was a man in the Bible named Tiglath Pelezer Adonibezek? Aren’t you glad God didn’t call His Son something like that? I don’t think we’d see that name on bumper stickers—it wouldn’t fit! Plus, can you imagine any worship choruses and hymns we would write around a difficult name like that? Perronett’s hymn would never have been popular if it went like this:
All Hail the power of Tiglath Pelezer Adonibezek….let angels prostrate fall…
Neither would hymns like these: “Oh how I love Tiglath Pelezer Adonibezek….Oh how a I love Tiglath Peleza Adonibezek”
Or—and this is my favorite—“Take the name of Tiglagh Pelezer Adonibezek with you…child of sorrow and of woe…it will joy and comfort give you. Take it then where ere you go…”
It doesn’t work does it!? But the name JESUS…the simple name JESUS does! It is so easy that it is pronounced almost the same way in pretty much any language. I mean you can travel the world and listen to people talk in their native tongues—and not know what they are saying until they say, “JESUS” and then you can say, “Hey—I know Who you’re talking about! I know JESUS!” Perhaps because of its simplicity this name has become a universal symbol of the love of God for all people.
Another thing—it is a name that is simple enough for even a small child to learn. How many of you have ever taught a children’s Sunday School class and seen how—even early on in life—they easily they answer questions about Jesus? You would ask, “Who healed the sick?” And they would say, “JESUS” “Who fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes?” “JESUS” “Who loved you so much that He died for you on the cross?” “JESUS”
You know, I think it is very significant that God chose an easy name for His Son. Perhaps He did this to help us understand that we no longer have to get to Him through obedience to a difficult, complicated set of laws. No—now it is simply through faith in JESUS. In fact, I for one believe that all someone has to say in order to have eternal life when they die is, “Jesus save me!” Think about it Christian. Those three words imply that only Jesus CAN save a person…and that the person sees THEIR SIN…their NEED to be saved! AND THAT’S ALL IT TAKES! How many thousands of times that must have happened over the centuries—as people knew their life was about to end—someone was drowning or someone saw a car coming across the center line right toward them…or the World Trade Center towers were collapsing around them…or a soldier dying on the field of battle. Over the years how many tens of thousands of times have people cried out at the very end in times just like these, “Jesus! Jesus, save me!” And when they did—HE did! That simple name was the key to where they are now spending eternity for as Acts 2:21 says, “Everyone who calls on the NAME of the Lord will be saved.”
So JESUS is an esteemed name…an easy name…
(3) It is also an ENDURING name.
Do you realize that even though our Lord was born in obscurity over 2,000 years ago and died like a criminal at the age of 33…even though He only ministered three years and even though that ministry was in a relatively secluded part of this planet…do you realize that in spite of all this His name is still the most well known name in history? The great libraries of the world have entire walls filled with books written about Jesus. Jesus’ face and name have been on the cover of LIFE and TIME and NEWSWEEK…and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC more than any other person. Here are a few samples.
Whenever public-opinion polls are taken asking, “Who is the most admired man in history?” Jesus of Nazareth has no trouble vastly outdistancing anyone else every time. Emperors have tried to destroy His name. Philosophies have tried to stamp it out. Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it, yet the name of JESUS still stands! Napoleon once said,“I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel…nations pass away, thrones crumble, but the Church [of Jesus] remains.”
It is indeed an ENDURING name! In fact, as Paul says in our text from Philippians, the name of Jesus will endure until the end of time. When that final day dawns, every tongue that has ever uttered a sound, every single voice of Adam’s race shall raise in one great mighty chorus to proclaim the NAME OF JESUS.
So the name of Jesus is ESTEEMED. It is EASY. It is ENDURING…
(4) And then the name of Jesus is also an EXCLUSIVE name.
Acts 4:12 says,“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” This week Sue noticed that the marquee at the Islamic Center on Woodfield Road said, “The only thing Jesus actually said was, ‘Worship God.’” Of course we know that is not true. And—whether they realized it or not, our Islamic neighbors were simply expressing an opinion that many people hold these days—one that says all religions are basically equal—that there is no “EXCLUSIVE” way to Heaven. However, anyone who actually studied all the things that Jesus said would know that this kind of thinking is absolutely wrong. And the best proof text is John 14:6, where Jesus said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”
I could cite tons of other verses but suffice it to say that according to this Book of books—Jesus IS the ONLY way to God—because Jesus is the ONLY Son of God—the ONLY sinless man Who ever lived—and therefore the only One Who could die for our sins. That is the TRUTH and TRUTH by it’s very nature is EXCLUSIVE.
That leads me to refer to another uncomfortable—unpopular truth—and here it is: all people are by nature and choice sinners—in desperate need of a Savior. As it says in Romans 3,“There is no one who is righteous, not even one…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…and the wages of sin is death.” Now, you might disagree with this verse. It might offend you a bit. You may think this verse doesn’t apply to you because in your humble opinion you are a pretty good person—so you think you don’t need saving. But this would be a huge mistake because, as God’s Word repeatedly says, all people—even GOOD people—are sinful and lost without Jesus. Without Him all of us face a life empty of purpose—and a death without hope.
Think of it this way. There are some people who drive like maniacs, and have no business being on the road. They drive while they send and receive text messages. They drive while they’re putting on lipstick. They drive while they are sleepy. They drive while they are drinking. They drive while they fiddle with the GPS. They drive while they eat. They drive without insurance….and so on.
And then there are other people who approach the task of driving more responsibly. They don’t speed or let themselves become distracted when they’re behind the wheel. They don’t have to panic when they see a cop and immediately slam on the brakes so he doesn’t catch them speeding. This is because they’re basically good drivers and if you fall into this category I applaud you.
Let’s imagine for a moment that the only way you could renew your driver’s license was to have an absolutely PERFECT, completely spotless, driving history. I don’t’ mean you have never been CAUGHT exceeding the speed limit…or for failure to use your blinker when you changed lanes. I mean you had never DONE that—not even once. Imagine that the Department of Motor Vehicles developed a super version of these tax cameras—I mean SPEED cameras—but this new model could do far more than catch you speeding. It had sensors all over so that Big Brother was literally ALWAYS watching you every minute you are behind the wheel. With this new super-duper computerized monitoring system the DMV could determine with absolute accuracy whether or not you had ever made an illegal U-turn, or had ever cut someone off in traffic, or had ever floated through a stop sign or parallel parked even a fraction of an inch too far from the curb or ever used the HOV lane during rush hour while driving alone in your car…or ever broken any other driving rule. If that computer system existed, and those were the conditions, how confident would you feel in your ability to renew your licence? Would anyone here make it? I mean any one but me?
NO…of course not. None of us would because the truth is none of us are perfect drivers! We all break the rules….accidentally…and intentionally…by nature…and by choice. Well that’s the way it is with sin. Even if you’re not a blatant sinner, you’re still not good enough to meet God’s standard of perfect holiness. We all entertain sinful thoughts. We all do things we shouldn’t do—and don’t do things we should. We ARE all sinners—separated from our Holy God—so what we need most is a SAVIOR…Someone to take the penalty for our sins on Himself and in so doing bridge the gap between us and God….between sinful humanity and holy divinity. Specifically—we needed a SINLESS Savior—Someone Who would be able to die for our sins because He didn’t face a penalty for His own. And according to this BOOK of BOOKS—the only Being Who could do that is Jesus—and that’s what He did when He died on the cross. Not because we deserved it or could ever earn it—but simply because of His love-fueled GRACE, Jesus Christ—and ONLY Jesus Christ—died for your sin—my sin.
I’m so proud of you grace-driven people—for choosing AMAZING GRACE as the number one favorite hymn around here—because when it comes to salvation we know it is all GRACE. The ONLY WAY we can be saved is through the amazing unfathomable GRACE of God seen on the cross. Jesus is indeed an EXCLUSIVE name. An unknown poet once put it like this:
Alexander may build an empire.
Napoleon may change the nations of the world.
Newton may bring about an intellectual revolution.
Edison may create a new world for science.
Wyatt may usher in a new era of industry.
But there is only One who can cleanse and transform the human heart.
And that One is Jesus.
(5) And then, as Peronnet celebrates in his hymn, the name of JESUS is also an EMPOWERING name.
In John 14:13-14 Jesus promised, “I will do whatever you ask IN MY NAME, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My name and I will do it.”
For thousands of years Christians have done all that God asked them to do through the power of the name of Jesus. They have learned like Paul that we can do, “…all things, through Christ Who strengthens us….” and that it is “Christ IN us….” that enables us to do His will. Empowered by Jesus’ name they have helped the world’s poor and hungry. In His name believers have started “Help” programs like the RED CROSS and EASTER SEALS and THE SALVATION ARMY. In the name of Jesus the modern medicine movement began. Following the example THE GREAT PHYSICIAN, Christians have fueled some of the greatest humanitarian advances in medicine. In fact, many historians attribute the creation of “the hospital” to Christianity….for in the United States, the first hospitals were started by Christians who were relying on the power of the name of Jesus. In the power of His name the greatest universities world wide were founded by Christians for Christian purposes: Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and others. Most of the world’s languages were first set to writing by Christian missionaries in order for people to read the Bible for themselves. In Jesus’ name Christians worked for basic human rights such that women are no longer property; to be bought and sold at will. In Jesus’ name, Christians like William Wilberforce, Charles Finney and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated their lives to provide equality and equal rights to all people, regardless of the color of their skin.
And of course the greatest example of the power of Jesus’ name is seen in Christians Who have relied on Him to enable them to take the good news of His love all over the world. Remember what Jesus told His first followers? In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be MY witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” And they were—in the power of His name they literally turned the world upside down. A perfect example of this is All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, because Perronet’s hymn has been greatly used in evangelistic endeavors over the years.
Rev. E. P. Scott was a missionary to India and he wrote of trying to reach a savage tribe in the Indian subcontinent. Ignoring the pleadings of his friends, he set off into the dangerous territory. Several days later, he met a large party of warriors who surrounded him, their spears pointed at his heart. Expecting to die at any moment, Scott took out his violin, breathed a prayer, closed his eyes, and began singing, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name…” He sang about Jesus ransoming us from the fall. He sang about God’s grace…and when he reached the words, “Let every kindred, every tribe,” he opened his eyes. There stood the warriors, some of them in tears, every spear lowered. Scott spent the next two years evangelizing that people group…telling them all about Jesus Who had come to save them. Jesus is indeed an empowering name.
This morning, if you are here and are not a Christian then I challenge you to call on the esteemed, easy, enduring, exclusive, empowering name of Jesus right now. Pray that simple three word prayer I mentioned earlier and ask Jesus to save you—for in that request you will experience personally the POWER of the name that is above all names. In fact, calling on Jesus’ name will change your life. An unknown poet put it this way,
I know a soul that is steeped in sin, that no man’s art can cure.
But I know a name, a name, a name, that can make the soul all pure.
I know a life that’s lost to God, bound down by the things of the earth,
But I know a name, a name, a name, that can bring that soul new birth.
If you call on the name of Jesus in faith—then you can experience a new start this morning. Won’t you do that? If you are a Christian and have a public decision to make such as joining our church or rededicating your life to our Lord, I invite you to come also—right now as we stand and sing.