This morning we’re going to be talking about magnifying or lifting up the name of Jesus. [2] But did you know that the name Jesus was actually a very common name in the ancient Jewish world?
Jesus was actually pronounced Yeshua by people back then and it’s actually a form of the name Joshua. (The name Joshua means “Jehovah is salvation” which is very appropriate for the Son of God.) We get the English version of His name by way of the Latin translation of the Greek manuscripts of the Scriptures. Clear as mud? Anyway, Jesus is basically the English version of His name that was Yeshua. But like I said, His name was actually a very common name in the ancient world.
[3] But today, the name of Jesus is the single most recognizable name in the whole world! Not that everyone has heard his name – but worldwide there isn’t another name that people recognize more than the name of Jesus. He truly has the name above all names!
But what makes a name great? Is it the way it souuuuunds? Is it the meaning of the name itself? Or is it the reputation behind the name that makes it great? Of course, the reputation of the person is what magnifies their name. Let’s do a little exercise. I’m going to say a first name and I want you to say their last name.
[Elvis ____, Tiger ____, Barak ____, Brittney ____, Mahatma ____, Jesus ____.]
The reputation of those people is what makes their names so well known. Jesus’ reputation, the awesome things He did, is what’s made His name the Name above all names! The miracles He performed, the things He taught, the love He showed, His sacrifice on the cross and His public resurrection created a reputation that magnified His Name to epic proportions. He made His name great by what He did.
But when He left this earth, he gave the responsibility of lifting up His name to His disciples. They, and we, are to continue to magnify the Name of Jesus. II Corinthians 5:20 says, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us.” God wants to use us to continually magnify or make great the name of Jesus.
In Acts chapter nineteen we see how God used the early church to magnify the name of Jesus. Let’s look at how they did it and make sure that we are doing the same thing.
The first way we see the disciples magnifying the name of Jesus is through their practices.[4]The things they did and the way they lived magnified the name of Jesus.
Paul makes his way back to Ephesus and finds a group of people who were probably true believers in God, but who’s faith was in it’s infancy. So Paul helps then fully know Jesus.
[Read Acts 19:1-7.]
So Paul finds this group of guys who like Apollos had followed the teachings of John the Baptist who preached that Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised to send. These guys had also been baptized under John’s ministry to show their faith in the One to come. But they might not have even known about Jesus depending on when they were under John’s ministry.
So Paul tells them about Jesus and they all get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ! And of course when they were baptized Paul laid his hands on them and the Holy Spirit came into their hearts as evidenced by their ability to speak in tongues and prophesy.
Now this was a regular occurrence in the early church. People would come to believe in Jesus and would immediately show others their faith by getting baptized. They wanted everyone to know that Jesus was real and that He had saved them from their sins. So they lifted up His name by getting baptized for all to see.
As you know, baptism is an outward symbol of an inner spiritual reality – the reality that Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins and now lives within us.
When you get baptized you’re lowered into the water as an expression of your old life without God dying away. When you’re raised up out of the water, it expresses the cleansing power of the blood of Christ washing away your sins. And then you stand there with your new life in Jesus Christ. It’s a beautiful expression of what Jesus has done in your life. Baptism magnifies the name of Jesus.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19-20 that we should baptize believers “until the end of the age.” He knows it’s one of our practices as Christians that will continue to magnify His name in this world. If you’re a believer in Jesus, but have never been baptized, you should. Let me know when you’re ready, and we’ll set it up. And let me tell you, Jesus will be so proud and happy that you’re magnifying His name in this way.
Along with baptism, there are so many other things we can do as Christians to magnify the name of Jesus. The way we live, the way we work, the way we treat others, and even the way we do church can magnify the name of Jesus. Listen our reputation reflects on the reputation of Jesus Christ to those who don’t know Him. We need to make sure that everything we do magnifies the name of Jesus.
[Church fighting reputation story.]
Now the believers who hear about this church know that Jesus isn’t like that. But many non-believers who hear about a church that’s always fighting, they’ll be turned off towards Jesus because of the way His people are acting. We are ambassadors for Christ and we need to magnify His name through our practices – through the way we live.
Another way the disciples magnified the name of Jesus was through their message. [5] They were obsessed with getting the message of Jesus Christ out to the world. Look back at the passage.
[Read Acts 19:8-10.]
As usual Paul went to the Jews first and preached to them Jesus from the Old Testament. His efforts over three months proved to be one of the longest times he was able to work amongst the Jews. But again the legalists started to rebel and antagonize him so he directed his efforts towards the non-Jewish community there in Ephesus. There was a lecture hall there owned by a man named Tyrannus that Paul was able to secure for two years. Over those two years Paul and the other disciples greatly magnified Jesus through their message.
Notice a few of things here: It says that Paul preached to the Jews the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God all through the Old Testament was the one that the Messiah was going to set up. Well, the Messiah, Jesus, has come and has promised to set up His kingdom one day on the earth. He gave the Jews the message of Jesus.
It also says that for two years Paul daily reasoned with them in the school of Tyrannus. They got a huge dose of Jesus every day from the anointed teachings of Paul.
And it also says that “all who lived in Asia, (referring to Asia minor), heard the Word of the Lord.” The whole region was evangelized while Paul was in Ephesus. But it wasn’t him doing the reaching out. Remember, he was in the lecture hall in Ephesus every day teaching probably for four to five hours a day. So how did people in different cities get the word about Jesus? Well of course, the other disciples were getting the word out.
Paul taught them about Jesus, they believed and were baptized, they then sat under Paul’s teachings about Jesus, and then they went out to spread the message that had so changed their lives. The disciples took the message of Jesus and made His name great throughout all the land.
I think that many Christians today still have a hard time telling others about Jesus Christ. Oh we can tell others that God is good to us. Or that God has blessed me. Or even that God is real, and God loves you. But sometimes we have a tough time saying the name of Jesus out loud to others. The word God is easy to say because most people believe in some sort of God. The word God is even printed on our money. Saying God loves you isn’t that hard a thing to say. But explicitly talking about Jesus takes a little more courage.
And it’s because Jesus is a polarizing figure. He Himself said that He’s the only way to heaven. That’s offensive to many people. We also believe that He rose from the dead. Some people think that’s crazy. And then there’s the people who have given Jesus a bad name and we don’t want to be associated with them. So we shy away from talking about Jesus.
But listen, Jesus is the name above all names. And at His name everyone will bow at the final judgment. Will people bow as believers, or will they bow as people who never knew Him? We need to get people the message of Jesus so they can know Him for themselves before it’s too late. Lift His name up and make His name great by spreading the wonderful message of Jesus Christ and His love.
We magnify the name of Jesus with how we live, we magnify the name of Jesus by spreading the message of Him, and finally, we magnify His name by recognizing the miracles He does in our lives. [6]Look at how Jesus’ name was magnified through the disciple’s signs.
[Read Acts 19:11-12.]
All through the book of Acts you see these kinds of signs and wonders following the ministry of the Apostles. God worked these outward signs through them to validate the message that they were preaching. And it worked so well!
Now I don’t think that Paul was going around blessing pieces cloths and distributing them for healings. I think that people heard of the miracles he was doing and were asking him for these things to take with them back home to someone who needed a touch from God. The handkerchief was a headband and the apron was something that Paul would wear while working as a tentmaker there in Ephesus. The people had much the same attitude of those that we found in Acts chapter 5 who thought that if Peter’s shadow was cast over them that they would be healed. The point is, miracles in Jesus’ name magnified His name.
But there were those who tried to use the power of Jesus’ name in a bad way.
[Read Acts 19:13-17.]
The travelling exorcists heard about people being healed in Jesus’ name and they thought they try it for themselves. The only problem was, they didn’t know Jesus! They thought that simply using His name would do the trick. You know, say the magic word and the demons will bow to them. But their plan backfired and they got owned.
But when the people heard about it, they recognized the power in Jesus’ name for those who believed and it greatly magnified His name in all the land!
But hey, miracles aren’t just for the ancient world. Miracles happen every day. And if we will recognize God’s working hand in our lives, it will magnify the name of Jesus.
Let me read for you a true story of a modern day miracle. It’s from Tracy Harp of Lynnwood, Washington who is 34 years of age and has been a diabetic for 21 years. She writes, “On Monday, August 19, 2002 I was running late for work. I had missed my carpool, which meant I had to drive myself into work. I work from 4:00pm to midnight. I had been very busy that day and hadn’t eaten enough. This causes my blood sugar to drop too low. For the 21 years that I’ve had diabetes, I always had a warning sign before one of these episodes was coming on. I’d get a weak and shaky feeling in my legs. When this happens I have only 10 minutes to get some sugar in me before I get confused and disoriented. Never before has this not happened…until that day. I remember merging on the freeway in Lynwood, but I don’t remember anything else after that. When I woke up, I was in an ambulance in Tukwila. For 30 miles I had driven in a diabetic coma and was unconscious, but I didn’t have a scratch on me and my car had only a few scratches on it. More importantly, I hadn’t hurt anybody else even though traffic is very busy that time of the day.”
The miracle of this event is this: All my life, especially when I am feeling down, I ask the Lord for a sign to prove He is still with me. And He probably does but I’m usually too blind to see it. But how more obvious could He be? He drove my car for me while I was out cold for thirty miles. He saved many lives and their cars. He pulled the car over for me and stopped it safely away from all the traffic. That day was a miracle for me as God showed me that He is always there for me.
God still works miracles today. And those miracles are intended to strengthen our faith and to magnify His name. I know that in this crowd there are tons of miracles represented here. Recognize the miracles that God has done in your life and let them magnify the name of Jesus.
Listen, we are ambassadors for Christ. The way we live, the message we bring, and the miracles in our lives should all magnify the wonderful name of Jesus Christ.
When you look at yourself… is that taking place? Are your words and your actions making Jesus’ name great? They can if you will simply be dedicated to worshipping Jesus with your entire life.
Before we take communion this morning, let’s look inside and see if God wants us to make any changes regarding this issue. Let’s bow together.
[Invite men up, [7] pause, then pray.]
As we come to the communion table this morning, we get a picture of what Jesus has done Himself to make His name great. He willingly went to the cross and allowed His body to be broken on behalf of us! Let’s magnify the name of Jesus!
[Serve bread, read Luke 22:19.]
Jesus willingly and lovingly provided His own blood as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Through this, His name is magnified as the Name above all names!
[Serve cup, read Luke 22:20.]
God is so good! May we all live and speak in a way that magnifies the precious name of Jesus! [8]
