AT (@) THE NAME OF JESUS
Philippians 2:5-11
We can only imagine how carefully God chose those who would be the earthly parents of His son…the ones who would do for this most holy child what all parents do for their children: feed them, clothe them, protect them. Yet one of the most common responsibilities of parenting God did NOT assign to them: they did not name their child. On separate occasions the angels said to Mary and Joseph that heaven had determined the name of the Messiah:
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
One of the important decisions that is made for us is our name. Expectant parents will wrestle with that identifying title which probably will designate their child for the rest of his or her lives.
It is interesting to watch how names fluctuate in popularity. According to the Social Security Administration, some of the most popular names today are Jacob, Ethan, and Michael for boys and Isabella, Sophia, and Emma for girls. While the boys have stayed more consistent, girl’s names are more fluid. Ten years ago the most popular girl’s names were Emily, Hannah, and Madison. Of course some prefer to give their child a unique name like Garrick, Princeton, Jazz, Calico.
But the most creative parents I know about was from several years a Chinese couple attempted to name their baby “@.” That’s right. The kid’s name was the symbol @. But when you think about it, it was a brilliant name on many levels. Every time we sent an email we would pay homage to their baby. And given that texting has brought us to reduce lots of words to symbols, maybe this is just the beginning.
A child from an unexpected pregnancy could be named “!”
An expensive child could be named “$” or if it is a girl “$$”
The second-born child of twins could be “&”
Imagine a child so frustrating, the parents name him %&#
But we are not here to talk about abbreviated texting, but rather the Biblical text, specifically Philippians 2 where Paul declares:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
If we back up several verses, it tells us some things that we find @ the name of Jesus
UNIQUENESS
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God Philippians 2:5-6
Here is something unique that separates Jesus from all others: in the form of God…equal with God. You can say that of no other baby. History records names of great people of government, athletics, entertainment, business, religion, etc. But NONE achieve this unique distinction. Jesus’ birth is so significant because there has never been any birth like His.
Recently I read about another challenge to a nativity scene displayed on a courthouse property. I certainly believe that religious speech should have the same rights as all other expressions. Still, it concerns me that the legal justification for the nativity’s presence is that it is only a part of an entire seasonal display. But when we put the story of Jesus on par with Santa, Frosty, and Rudolph, we drain it of its uniqueness, because it is not the same. It is the story of our hope. A beautiful but rarely sung Christmas song says The great creator became my Savior. And all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him
COMMONNESS
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: Philippians 2:6-7
He became “like” us even in name: The name Jesus was a common name. The equivalent to the name Joshua. There were at least four people in the Old Testament who shared this name: Joshua, Son of Nun, successor of Moses, Joshua the high priest, Zechariah 6:9-14, An owner of a field, A governor of Jerusalem in the time of Josiah
In political campaigns it is asked of the candidates, Can he/she identify with the common, average person? In countries with royalty, those outside the royal circle are sometimes referred to as commoners. In Jesus heaven’s royalty became a commoner. Great God Almighty became a human. Theologically we call this the incarnation and it is one of the most amazing concepts to try to understand. But perhaps a familiar story will help.
For decades radio announcer Paul Harvey included in his Christmas Eve broadcast a tale called, “The story of the birds.” He did not write it, but it became associated with him. It went like this:
The man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man.
“I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve.” He said he’d feel like a hypocrite. That he’d much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound…Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud…At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.
Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.
Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them…He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms…Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn.
And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me…That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
“If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to safe, warm…to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.”
At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells – Adeste Fidelis – listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas.
And he sank to his knees in the snow.
To summarize: Jesus became what we are so we could become what He is: pure, holy, and worthy. My favorite line of Away in a Manger is the lyric that says And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there. Why? Because without the one who came to be what we are we do not fit.
HUMILITY
Let’s go back to a previous phrase about Jesus’ character: …thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Philippians 2:6b In the King James Version that phrase can be difficult to understand the New Living Translation says …he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. NLT The idea is that Jesus glory was not something he grasped or clutched. We hold tight to things we are not willing to let go. But Jesus was humble enough to give his entitlements up: His status, His rights, His glory to come in human flesh.
We like to image ourselves folks as upwardly mobile. The story of Christmas is about one who was downwardly mobile into our world. Here is a word Martin Luther said of Jesus: You are truly God who has created me, and you will not be angry with me because you come to me in this loving way - more loving cannot be imagined. Martin Luther
The measure of love is not how high it goes but how low it bows and stoops. If THAT were not humbling enough at the name of Jesus we also find…
OBEDIENCE
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:8
Our hope is not just in the birth of Jesus, but also in the obedience of Jesus that took Him all the way to the cross. Hebrews affirms this obedience: but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Hebrews 4:15b NIV He chose not to sin but rather to follow and stay on the path of Heavenly Father’s will all the way to the humility of the cross. Remember that these are the attitudes that Paul says we should embrace as a follower of Jesus.
EXALTATION
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: Philippians 2:9
You can toot your own horn, but there is a better fate for those who humble themselves and allow God to do the bragging. Jesus taught it and lived it out. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12 NIV
The text crescendos to the climax that affirms: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
Here is God’s Plan A: Lives are transformed and souls are saved through the saving work of this person, who was God, but was willing not to be God alone, and became a person, and who died on a cross. But God has no Plan B. There does not need to be. Plan A is sufficient. The apostles affirmed: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved Acts 4:12
Today people may bow at the name of money, power, ambition, recreation, entertainment, but not Jesus. Today you may be bowing at the name of drugs, alcohol, pleasure, promotions, but not Jesus. Some may even be bowing at the name of family, children, and friendships. But there is only one name that is above all names…
Jesus…Jesus…Jesus Let me borrow some words Gloria Gaither penned about the name Jesus:
The mere mention of His name can calm the storm, heal the broken, raise the dead.
At the name of Jesus, the hearts of hardened men melt, derelicts are transformed, and the lights of hope are put in the eyes of a hopeless child.
At the name of Jesus, hatred and bitterness turn to love and forgiveness, as arguments cease.
Jesus...Jesus....
Emperors have tried to destroy it.
Philosophers 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 it still stands.
And there shall be that final day when every voice that has ever uttered a sound, every voice of Adam's race, shall rise in one mighty chorus to proclaim the name of Jesus.
For that day, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is truly Lord.
You see, it was not by mere chance that caused the angel one night, long ago to say to a virgin maid: His name, His name shall be called Jesus....Jesus....Jesus....
You know, there really is something, something about that name........
As the scripture affirms, one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the father. But you do not have to wait until that day. You can bow your hearts today and declare Jesus is Lord.
