Jesus Series

Message

Matthew 1:21

Name Above All Names - Jesus

As we continue our series on the Name Above all Names we come to the name … Jesus.

As we think about the name of Jesus I want you to just stop for a minute and I want you to think about your own name.

And imagine if you had a different name would you feel the same about yourself if you had a different name? I think it would depend on the name that you had.

Before I was born my mum told my grandmother that my mum was going to call me Donald. So I would have been Donald Quak.

think I would have struggled a little more in life if my name was Donald Quak.

Especially because there was the famous Disney character called Donald Duck.

You can understand why my mum and my grandmother didn't always get on so well.

But there are crazy names that you hear … really crazy

don't you crazy names

Nicolas Cage called his son Kal-El … that is the original name of superman before he left the planet Krypton. Nicolas did that because he likes comics. He liked comics better than he liked his own son obviously

Gwyneth Paltrow called her child Apple … when asked why she said “you know apples are so sweet and they're wholesome”.

The actor Rob Morrow called his son Tu Morrow.

Some people should not have the right to name their own children.

Tu Morrow … what is that going to do for your identity.

Do you want to go to the beach Tu Morrow?

Would you like an ice-cream Tu Morrow?

Nothing would ever happen in that child’s life because tomorrow never comes.

It is the cruellest name to give to a child. Some people should not be allowed to name their children.

I think this should be a rule.

Some names are just terrible.

But there are other names that are not terrible.

There are other names are so really significant … especially when an angel tells you what to name your kid. Then you know that that's going to be a special name.

We find this name in Matthew 1:18-25

As we've been going through this series we've been reading the various areas of the scriptures talking about the birth of Jesus this is a section focusing on the birth of Jesus as it relates to his mother Mary.

Matthew 1:18-25

So clearly … verse 21 … give him the name Jesus because he will save people from their sins. Verse 25 … and they gave birth to a son and gave him the name Jesus

And just to be sure we get it right.

In Luke 1:21 the Angel talks to Mary and says

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

And again in Luke 2:21 when he is circumcised it says there

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived

His name is Jesus.

It is not a title. It’s not a description. It’s not a characteristic.

This is His birth name.

On his birth certificate this the name that Joseph and Mary would write into the register … Jesus son of Joseph. It is his personal identification.

As a persona identification it's not a unique name. Let's understand that.

It’s not like the name Jesus is unusual or that it's never been used before.

There was a guy when Jesus was being crucified. There was another guy there and his name is Barabbas but Matthew 27:16 says

At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas (Matt 27:16)

There's another guy in Colossians 4:11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings.

I think what happened is this man’s name was Jesus … and then he became a Christian. So he went, “No I can't be called Jesus anymore.” So they changed his name to Justice.

The point is … Jesus is a common name. In fact archaeologist have unearthed the tombs of 71 people who lived in the first century whose name was Jesus.

So Jesus is the name that people would use to call out and get his attention.

Jesus is on his way to school and his mates see him, “Jesus let's walk together to the school.”

His mother would use the name Jesus when she wanted him to take out the rubbish.

It was name that families would use to call their baby. A Jesus would be walking down the street and then someone else would call out, “Jesus”, but then he would realise it's not him.

So what does that all mean?