THE DIFFERENCE A NAME MAKES
Jesus – Week 2
Pastor Steve Gallimore
Tennessee Valley Community Church
August 31, 2008
When I was growing up I heard it and I’ll bet you did too. As a matter of fact, my kids heard it over and over and over: Be careful where you go, what do, and how you act because you’re not just representing you, you’re representing our family what? NAME! Exactly. What difference does a name make? Well, let’s look at a few and see if they make any difference.
For example, Santa Clause; Abraham Lincoln; George Washington; Elvis; Homer Simpson; Darth Vader; Hitler; Pilot. All of those names conjure up some kind of feelings don’t they? But let me ask you this: Would their names be famous if they wouldn’t have done something first? In other words, if Hitler had not killed millions of Jews, we probably would never have known his name. If Abraham Lincoln had not freed the slaves, we probably would have as much trouble remembering his name as we do many of the other presidents’ names. If Elvis had not swung his pelvis…who knows? (Thank you very much)
Now it’s obvious that your parents gave you your name. And when people have invented something, many times their inventions were named after them.
INVENTIONS AND NAMES:
What difference does a name make? Let me ask you this; what does the world need more than anything else today? We’re certainly in a mess and no one would deny that. We just look at the prayer requests each week and the needs in our community are so many and so varied: People who are sick, people are dying, people who have great needs in their lives, people whose marriages are coming apart at the seams, people who have wayward children and they’re praying for them to see the light of God and they’re broken hearted and seeking God’s face on their relationship with them. People need jobs and ways and means to make it through tough times, and these are tough times. So as I was thinking about today, I said, God show me what I can offer your people today. And I realized I couldn’t offer you anything and if I did it wouldn’t last anyway. So I said God, they’re your people and you know them inside and out and you want to help them and touch them so just say to them through me what you want them to hear.
Now, this is what I know is on God’s agenda everyday for you and for me and it was on the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ when He bursts on to the scene as He took on human flesh some 2000 years ago and His message was clear.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)
So if this was Jesus’ life and purpose, then would it be safe to say it should be our life and purpose as well? I think so. Notice what he came to do.
THE LIFE & PURPOSE OF JESUS:
The POOR will hear the Good News
What did Jesus mean when He said the poor will hear the Good News? To get this, you’ve first got to be poor in spirit. Jesus said,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 (NKJV)
What does it mean to poor in spirit? It means to realize you’re spiritually bankrupt without God. And really, only a saved sinner can understand what it means to be poor in spirit. Many people think that as long as they keep a certain set of rules or religious regulations that they have it all together. They are not yet bankrupt in spirit, but when the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and the wrong in our lives and the rejection of Christ Jesus, we realize our total poverty before Him and then we become poor in spirit and we are truly blessed. Paul said it this way:
Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
2 Corinthians 6:10 (NLT)
The CAPTIVE will be released
Then Jesus said the captives would be released. Paul said, But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Romans 7:23 (NLT)
You see, you don’t get rid of the old nature when you are saved. And yet there is no power in your new nature. "I see a different law" is the enmity of the old nature against God. It causes the child of God who is honest to cry out, as Paul cried:
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7:24 (NKJV)
This is not an unsaved man who is crying, "O wretched man that I am"; this is a saved man. The word wretched carries with it the note of exhaustion because of the struggle. "Who is going to deliver me?" He is helpless. His shoulders are pinned to the floor -- he has been wrestled down. Anybody here that’s a follower of Christ yet you still struggle with sin? Jesus wants to release you from that today.
The BLIND will see
Next he said the blind will see. What does that mean in the context of today’s world?
Now, we know that one of the signs were the miracles of Jesus and one of the things pointed out by the early disciples and even Nicodemus in John 3 was that "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
But I say He is still doing miracles today. He is still in the physical healing business. There are many times we’ve all heard and some even experienced signs and wonders that just can’t be explained away by human reason. But there is another group and even more impressive group of people being healed today that are also blind and that is every one of us who have said yes to, and yielded to the Lordship of Christ for in that moment the scales fell off our eyes as it were, and we are now able to see as never before because we’ve experienced this thing Jesus called the new birth from above.
The sad thing is this. Those who have truly, at one point in time, yielded their lives to Christ, began their new life, yet failed to develop as a vibrant, growing, changed child of God. Peter was trying to encourage New Testament believers when he said,
But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
2 Peter 1:9 (NLT) (See 5-8 for description of “this way”)
The OPPRESSED will be set free
The last group of people Jesus mentioned was those who were oppressed. They would be set free. Who are those people?
And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth…Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Acts 10:38 (NLT)
To be oppressed is to be browbeaten, demoralized, exploited, and broken. We’ve all experienced that at times in our lives haven’t we! Jesus said he came to set you free from that oppression.
To many times we go to church and all we hear is how bad we are instead of how good God is! Sometimes if we’re not careful we’re like, here’s the bad news of the Gospel! There is no bad news of the Gospel! There is life change, and eternity change, and attitude change, and language change, and heart change. He came to set you free, not enslave you; to give you a future and a hope. He has good plans for you too!
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)
Some of you today are wondering, is there any hope? How do I go on? Does anybody care what happens to me? Jesus does! He cares for you, Jesus loves you, Jesus wants to help you and Jesus will set you free. When I turned to Jesus I turned from darkness to light. When I turned to Jesus I turned guilt to forgiveness. When I turned to Jesus I turned from hopelessness to hope. When I turned to Jesus I turned from no purpose to meaning in life, from loneliness to a Christian family, from despair to hope. The name of Jesus makes all the difference in the world. But before He can do all that for you, you’ve got to answer the same question He’s been asking for over 2000 years; one that I settled years ago. I could only answer the question in my life. I couldn’t answer it for you; you’ll have to answer Him yourself. It’s the question He asked Peter one day and it’s the question Jesus is asking you this morning:
There’s only one way to take advantage of this great hope. You’ve got to answer the greatest question ever asked about the greatest name ever given.
Before I give you the question, let me tell you a story found in Matthew 16. Jesus and His disciples had left the region around the Sea of Galilee and they went north to Caesarea Philippi. Where he is now is heading toward Jerusalem and the Cross. But before He begins that journey, there are two things that must be clear in the minds of His disciples; (1) who He is, and (2) what He is going to do. My friend, these are the two things that all of us have to be clear on in order to be Christians. We have to know who He is, and we have to know what He did. We need to know these things in order that we might exercise faith and be saved. Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee.
"Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Matthew 16:13 (NKJV)
This is a question that is still being asked today. Who is this Jesus? Is what He said to us enough or did we need another authority to tell us the rest of the story? Did He mean what He said when He said that He had opened up the way to the Father and that forever and ever He is our High Priest and we have no need of another? Did He mean what He said when He the Holy Spirit as well as the Christ said that marriage is indeed God’s plan not man’s invention and it is about one man, one woman for life? Did He mean that part about no murder or is okay in certain situations when it is inconvenient for me to let you live? Oh, make no mistake about it; Jesus is still the most narrow-minded, controversial person who ever walked the face of the Earth. Yet this same Jesus who, regardless of what man may say was the most intolerant person who ever lived when it came to right and wrong, never cursed a sinner, never ever called a person who had not yet accepted Him as Lord, a sinner. Instead, He called men and women, boys and girls to Himself and offered them the deal of a lifetime – forgiveness! And He offers that same deal today, but first, you have to answer a more personal question:
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15 (NKJV)
My friend, it doesn’t matter who your neighbor says Jesus is. It doesn’t matter who the multitudes say Jesus is. It doesn’t matter who you mother, father, sister, or brother says Jesus is. The only question you can answer today is this one. WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? And Peter answered and said,
“Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16 (NLT) Then Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Matthew 16:17-18 (NLT)
Now there are those who believe that Jesus said He will build His church upon Peter and others that say He will build His church upon the confession of Peter. But when you take into account that Peter (petros-little rock) was failed, sinful flesh just like we are as he proved over and over and that Jesus said, “Upon this rock (petra-a mass of rock) I will build my church, He was speaking neither of Peter nor his confession but Jesus said I will build my church, upon the foundation of my life that I’m about to lay down for you. That is the rock upon which salvation rests! And whether you or I accept or deny Christ does not change one iota the fact that He built the foundation upon the bedrock of His own right and ability to pay for our sins. As a matter of fact Peter would later write:
Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded" (1Pet. 2:6).
So this is the life changing truth of the day. You can hate Jesus. You can deny that He was the Son of God and turn your back on Him. Or you can love Him and run to Him today for restoration and healing. But the one thing you can’t do is remain neutral. You can love Him or hate Him but you can’t ignore Him!
The Good News today is this:
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:17 (NKJV)
Jesus did not come to condemn you. He came to save you and restore you and love you and give you a purpose to live for and power to live on. But if you choose not to accept His gift and His love today, John 3:18 tells us what you’re choosing for yourself:
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18 (NKJV)
Why is important that you choose, that you yield your life to the Lordship of Christ today? Because the book’s still open…for today.
Let’s go back to where we started this morning. There seems to be a problem with the scriptures when you realize that Jesus was reading from the book of Isaiah 61:1. Let’s look back at it for a moment as we have it the Gospel of Luke. Luke tells us He, Jesus, was handed the book of Isaiah and He opened it and read "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV) Then look what happened next:
Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Luke 4:20 (NKJV)
But when we read the story in Isaiah, there seems to be a problem. Let’s look at it on screen.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, Isaiah 61:2 (NKJV)
Isaiah is seeing the entire vision of what Jesus came to do. It’s like viewing a mountain range from a far off distance. As you look at the mountain peaks, it appears they are one continuous mountain but when you get closer to them you can see there are actually miles between them. Isaiah has seen both the coming of Christ the first time as He came to redeem mankind and as he looks at the twin mountains he sees the vengeance of Christ upon those who reject Him when He comes a second time.
Jesus has not yet closed the book. His offer of forgiveness and mercy is still opened to all who will hear His voice and say yes to Him. You do not want to be one who rejects Jesus until the book is shut. When is the book shut? When you’ve had your final chance to receive forgiveness but you turned it down again and again and then you take your final breath here on earth, at that point my friend, for you the book will be closed. Or when God says it’s time to wrap things up and Jesus comes back for His bride, the church, and then the book will be closed. For now, we’re between the mountains; we can look back to the first coming of Christ and we can look forward to the future coming of Christ. But either way make no mistake about it, one day the book will be closed and Paul said at that day, Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV)
Dr. W. A Criswell, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, said on one occasion on an airplane flight he found himself seated beside a well-known theologian. He desperately wanted to start a conversation and they did get to talk. The man told Dr. Criswell about how he had recently lost his little boy through death. Dr. Criswell listened as he told his story: He said he had come home from school with a fever and we thought it was just one of those childhood things, but it was a very virulent form of meningitis. The doctor said we cannot save your little boy. He’ll die.
And so this seminary professor, loving his son as he did, sat by the bedside to watch this death vigil. It was the middle of the day and the little boy whose strength was going from him and whose vision and brain was getting clouded said, "Daddy, it’s getting dark isn’t it?" The professor said to his son, "Yes son it is getting dark, very dark." Of course it was very dark for him. He said, "Daddy, I guess it’s time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?"
He said, "Yes, son, it’s time for you to go to sleep."
The professor said the little fellow had a way of fixing his pillow just so, and putting his head on his hands when he slept and he fixed his pillow like that and laid his head on his hands and said, "Good night Daddy. I will see you in the morning." He then closed his eyes in death and stepped over into heaven.
Dr. Criswell said the professor didn’t say anymore after that. He just looked out the window of that airplane for a long time. Then he turned back and he looked at Dr Criswell with the scalding tears coming down his cheeks and he said, "Dr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning."
You see the morning is coming. And we will see our loved ones. That’s what Jesus is saying, "The gates of hell, the gates of DEATH, shall not prevail against the church!"
Illustration by Charles Lindquist, Jr.
