A Name Above Every Name

“A Name Above Every Name”

October 16, 2005 (Philippians 2:9-11) Lighthouse Baptist Church

There are some names that mean more to me than others. For example, the name Dawn is special to me. It means “sunshine.” I just happened to marry “Sunshine” 31 years ago. When I hear the name I think of my lovely wife. The name Gina and Steven are special to me. Our two children carry those names. Gina was named after her grandmother and grandfather Siceloff, (Jeanette and Colin), and Steven was named after me. The name David is special to me because that was my father’s name. I love and miss him. He’s in Heaven and one day I will see him again. The name Martha is special to me because that is my mother’s name. She is the woman who brought me into the world.

Joke: Speaking of mother, I heard a story of a young preacher. I had gone to hear an older preacher speak and thought he would repeat something the older preacher said in one of his sermons. It was this. The older preacher said, “I have spent the best part of my life in the arms of another man’s wife. That woman was my mother.”

That young preacher liked that so much that he couldn’t wait to get home to tell it. When he got home he went before his congregation and said to them, “I have spent the best part of my life in the arms of another woman’s wife,” and then his mind went blank. He could not remember the rest of the statement the older preacher made and so he said, “But for the life of me, I cannot remember who she was.”

I’m simply saying that there are some names that mean the world to us and there are other names that don’t. When you hear certain names they give you certain responses. We all have different names that do that.

What about the name “Jesus”? What does that name do for you? What response does that name trigger? Doesn’t the name Jesus the set of bands of love singing in your heart? Doesn’t the name Jesus cause the act of appreciation to swell within you? Isn’t the name Jesus the sweetest name on earth to you?

That’s what Paul is speaking of in this passage. He’s talking about the name above every name. There are three things about the name of Jesus that I would like to share with you this morning. I simply want you to understand this:

BI – “The sweetest name in Heaven and on earth is the lovely name of Jesus: there is no equal by any measure.”

Please notice first:

I. The Dispensing of His Name – (2:9)

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:9 KJV)

Why is the name Jesus so special? For one, it was given by God the Father in Heaven Himself. Listen:

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. (Luke 1:26-31)

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35 KJV)

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 KJV)

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 KJV)

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:21)

I’m sure some people here today have special names because of the ones who named you. You might have been named after someone important. You might have been named by someone really important.

I was at a preacher’s seminar. The instructor asked us all to tell our full name and why we were named thusly. It was interesting to hear the men tell who they were named after or why they were named that way. Some of the men had great stories to tell. I began to think who I was named after. I couldn’t think of a soul. I began to wonder why they named me Tony when there were no Tony’s in our family. I began to wonder why they named me Steven when there were no Steven’s in our family. Then it dawned on me: my parents gave me the name they gave me because they had run out of family names when it was my time to be born. They had to name me something.