Message
Luke 1:32
Name Above All Names - Son of the Most High
Our current sermon series has the generic title of Name Above All Names.
Looking at the names of Jesus that appear in the New Testament in the time before Jesus was born up to his time in Egypt.
There are actually over 150 descriptions or names of Jesus in the Bible but we are limiting ourselves to just 10. 10 names that help us in our relationship with Jesus.
As I think about that relationship I'm thinking that a good way to understand a person’s relationship with God is to listen to the songs that people sing when they're going through their life. The Christian songs that they sing.
Because all of us have our own favourite songs. The songs that you'll sing to yourself while you're working or maybe while you're doing a little job. The ones that play in your head or which you find yourself singing in the car.
You know … that's the song that you turned up loud when we think no one's watching. Then you look around and there's someone watching you in the other lane who are looking at you singing this song at the top of your voice.
Or the songs when you go and visit people and they got the MP3 playing in the background.
These wonderful songs that are really an expression of relationship.
Singing is a real expression of our relationship with God
In fact in the Scriptures singing is a real part of the life of the response of Israel to God. The very first song that is recorded is in Exodus 15. The first song is sung after the Israelites come out of Egypt.
They go through the Red Sea and the Lord protects them through the Red Sea from the pursuing Egyptians. Then Miriam sings a song and that song is recorded in the Scriptures.
From that time, or probably even from before that time, singing continued to be part of the life of Israel. And we know that singing is an important part of their life because one whole book of the Bible – the Psalms – is a collection of songs. Through these songs the Israelites express what their relationship with God looks like.
We are going to focus on a very specific section and its Psalm 91, 92 and 93.
So to find the Psalms the easiest way is to open up your Bible almost exactly in half and there's a good chance that you will be in the Psalms.
Let’s Read.
When you listen to these Psalms what stands out?
Security.
Protection.
Peace.
Faithfulness.
Help against enemies.
Might and Power.
No matter what your day has been like, or the situation you are facing, these songs are ones you would sing when you need God right beside you.
The strong protective warrior who has His eyes directly on you as you walk the path.
And which description of character enables such a relationship?
Psalm 91:1
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:9-10
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.
Psalm 92:1
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High.
Psalm 93:4
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea—the Lord on high is mighty.
You see from the Old Testament there's this relationship with God who is Most High … and it's this aspect of his relationship with his people that gives security and peace and comfort.
Those things that enable people to get to the end of the day and say, “It's going to be ok.”
Then we get Luke 1:26-38. In this context we read about the birth of Jesus being foretold.
Let’s read
There's no way we can fully understand what Mary's going through. There's a whole range of emotions going on that we are just never going to be able to contemplate. But we can understand some things. And certainly what we can understand is here is this young girl … definitely she's in her teens. There's a good chance she's only in a mid teens 14, 15 or 16. And then the angel comes to her and he speaks to her. And notice her response; her first response is, “I'm really troubled.”
I'm not excited because I'm meeting an angel.
I'm not terrified because I'm meeting an angel.
I'm troubled
I'm troubled because it sounds like it's meant to be good news … but this is not good news. Mary lives in a town the town of Nazareth in Galilee. Nazareth is only a town of about 500 people at this time.
500 people is all there is.
So you can imagine in that context there's this young girl … 14, 15, 16 year old girl …who is discovered to be pregnant. And she's not married yet.
The whole town's going to find out very very quickly. And she's going to be walking down the street and everyone's going to be looking at her. That's the cause of her trouble.
And there's Joseph and we know the Joseph needs to be told not to divorce Mary.
But Joseph when he hears the news about Mary is going to react.
So there's trouble coming there.
And I think the fact that after we read this section it says that Mary gets taken off to the hill country of Judea to visit Elizabeth. I think maybe the parents have gone, “I think it's probably a good idea for Mary to get out of town for a little while.” So she goes to another part of the country … Judea … to visit Elisabeth who is most likely her Aunt.
They just want to get her out of the way.
It is not a good day in many ways for Mary.
It's good for us but not for Mary.
But at the end of it all as she's listening to the angel who's speaking the word of the Lord … she listens to him and she gets to the point where she moves from being troubled to being focused. “I am the Lord servant,” Mary answered , “may it be to me as you have said.” No trouble anymore.
This is me connecting with the Lord.
This is my relationship.
And what makes a difference I think, at least one of the differences, is she understands where God fits in.
Jesus will be great and he will be called the son of the Most High. And then later on it says, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Mary is going through all of these difficulties … and in this difficult situation she thinks back to those Psalms that we read. Where it talks about the Most High;
… and no matter what you're going through.
… and no matter the difficulty.
… no the matter the struggle
It's going to be ok. God will stand by you.
You see the Israelites know their Scriptures so well. It is such a thing to know the scripture so well that when you hear God speaking you can then remember back to what other Scripture says. And get comfort from the rest of the scripture.
Knowing the Scripture is so important it helps us … and here is Mary and she knows
… that God's going to be a refuge.
… that God going to be a strength.
… that God's going to be her peace.
And so it might be a troubling day at first, but I'm God’s servant and I'll do God what you need me to do - because I am your servant.
And that's not just a spiritual emotion that's experienced by Israel who knows God. Nor is it just for Mary who knows God is the Most High and who knows that she is going to be the mother of the man who is going to be called the Most High.
This is for us as well … let me show you why.
Move forward just a couple of chapters to Luke 6:32-36. It is in the context where Jesus says you need to love your enemies
Read Luke 6:32-36
Note verse 35 … you will be children of the Most High.
Can you see what's happening?
God as a Father reveals himself in the Old Testament as the Most High.
Jesus comes and he is the son of the Most High.
And then because of a relationship we can be called the sons and daughters of the Most High.
Knowing Jesus makes all the difference doesn't it. You can be God’s child but it's only going to happen when you understand the relationship that you need. You see its very difficult to be a sort of person who loves their enemy.
who prays for those who stand against them.
who is seeking a blessing on those who take things from them.
It’s very difficult to be this Luke chapter 6 person isn't it? There are not many people who have the natural tendency to love their enemies. The natural tendency is to hate. And so if you're going to be this sort of person - if you're going to behave in this way - it's because you know Jesus. This is a call to love your enemies … but underneath this call is this assumption – that you have accepted the call to love Jesus.
If you want to love your enemies first you gotta understand what it means to love Jesus. Because as you understand what Jesus has done for you, you can love your enemies.
What do I understand about what Jesus has done for me? I understand that I was God's enemy. That's what the Bible calls all of us - the enemies of God.
And then Jesus comes along and he sees us as the enemies of God.
And he takes hold of us and he loves us and he cares for us and he Forgives us. He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked … that's us ….
The son of the Most High is kind coming to us and giving his grace and his mercy and his love. So that we can be called Children of the Most High.
What an amazing transformation … from enemy to child. From enemies of God to the sons and daughters - to the children - of the Most High. That transformation only comes about when we know Jesus - who is also the son of the Most High.
And we are seeing this again and again.
Were Jesus has this description made of him and then he includes us in that description.
So Jesus is not just our Saviour; he's our brother. And he is gathering his family. And he's saying, “I want you to be part of this as well … children of the Most High … that's who you are.
So knowing this name of Jesus really makes a lot of difference in our lives … or can make a lot of difference in our lives
Knowing Jesus - who is the son of the Most High - helps us for example when it comes to dealing with our enemies. Luke 6:35-36
Love your enemies do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be Sons of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful wicked
We know Jesus as the Most High . And when you understand that this is your calling – to also be sons and daughters of the Most High - you can actually go through life in peace.
Because we live in a world that hates Christians … that's the reality of the situation. We don't feel that hate as much in Australia because we're not living in the nation where there's physical persecution very often . But it's getting there. And there will be the day when we will be persecuted for our faith. To be honest we should be persecuted for our faith; because that's what happens when you stand up and you stand out.
But we're so worried about what people think of us aren't we. Sometimes we want other people's opinion to be higher than God's opinion. And so our security … sadly …our security as Christian's sometimes it's not in who we are in Christ. Our security comes because of who we are in the sight of others.
Our security is not in the - because we are the Sons of the Most High – our security is in what people think of us .
And Jesus is coming along and he saying, “Let's understand what your identity is.” If you want to be accepted by the world then stay in the world. That's how it works. If you want to be accepted by the world, stay in the world … but then you need to be my enemy. Either your my enemy or you're my child. It's one of the other.
And if you're my child then it doesn't matter what people think of you. It doesn't matter what people say against you. It doesn't matter even at the end of the day if they persecute you and take your life. Because you are secure.
That's our security. That’s our peace. The only way we can wake up every day in security and peace is to know that Jesus has all of this under control. And that comes by knowing that God is the Most High.
Those Psalms that we read before. Some of the things that are written there
… you can step on cobras.
… you’re going to fight with lions
and you're going to be ok.
That not literal. What this is is a promise. It's a promise that no matter what the biggest powerful things on earth do to you … you cannot be eternally destroyed.
That's the promise.
That even if it turned out that David comes out towards Goliath and he's too slow with his sling and actually Goliath gets in first … even then David still ok. Because at the end of the day God is his refuge and his strength
History would be very different but David's ok
But t's hard to have that peace isn't it. It's hard to live in this world where you go, “God you're my refuge in my strength I don't care what other people think about me.” The trouble is that for many of us we do care. We care very much what other people think. And because we care too much we behave in a way that's not what God wants us to live. We don't behave like children of God; we behave like children of the world. And we accept what the world tells us to do knowing that living in the name of Jesus is a life which is going to make a stand out. We have a mixed identity because we are looking for security.
But then we are not living as children of the Most High.
The call is to stand out.
The other way that we were going to stand out is to hold onto the truth that the enemy is under control. We're still in the book of Luke so move forward it two chapters to Luke 8
Here we meet this man who's in the area of the Gerasenes. He is this crazy demon possessed man who is also known as Legion.
So maybe you know the story. I’m not going to read the whole story but just Luke 8:28
When he saw Jesus, He cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me Jesus son of the Most High God. I beg you don't torture me.”
I love this passage because all Jesus has done is gotten out of the boat and walked up the beach. And this Legion character who has been tormenting the area for ages is cowering because he sees Jesus. He knows what Jesus’ identity is. And His identity at that particular point is to be known as the son of the Most High.
The Demons recognise the authority of the Most High.
We can be called children of the Most High when we trust in Jesus.
What does that mean for our relationship to this demonic world that's trying to get us down? Who's in authority there. It's us isn't. It's always us. Because we're on the side of power
… and we're on the side of strength.
… and we are on the side of security
Turn forward to Acts 16:16-18
We are in the context of the ministry of Paul and Luke's describing what's going on in Philippi.
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.
If she's got a spirit by which you predict the future it has got to be an evil spirit.
She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
In other words she sees the Most High in Paul and the others.
She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and he said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
Who's got the authority against the demonic world. Well it's Christ. But as those who have been called children of the Most High we have been delegated authority.
That's our security - and that's our ultimate security. In the big scheme of things Satan is no threat.
He can't make us stop knowing the grace of God.
He can't hold us to the guilt of our past.
He doesn't have the power to determine our future.
Is he powerful? Yes he is powerful. One third of the angels followed him in the rebellion and now they serve him.
Does he have significant authority? Yes he has significant authority. Jesus calls him the ruler of the world and the prince of the power of the air.
Can he be dangerous? Yes he can be dangerous. The scripture calls him the one who walks around like a roaring lion waiting for someone to devour.
You don't mess around with Satan - it's not a game - but he's not in control. Ultimately he has no authority and ultimately he cannot break your security.
So no matter what difficulties you're going through.
No matter what hardships … think of the challenges. Think of the kind of challenges that fit into the Psalm 91 92 93 type of life. Your challenges.
The things that you have at work through the day and they make it hard for you to have peace.
Or you're struggling.
Or your fearful.
Those sorts of challenges in life. You think about them but you can say, “Yes that's true. That's happening. But around all of that Jesus is the son of the Most High and he calls me a child of the Most High.”
He calls us his children. And because that is the case every moment of every day we can have this peace and this security. That Christ died, and furthermore is also risen, and he is at the right hand of God. And he's not just sitting there doing nothing. As if all the work is done and the victory is secure and he can put his feet up.
He is making intercession for us.
The son of the Most High
… lifted up on high.
… seated on the throne of high.
… with the ear of the Most High.
And he's saying to God our Father, “Here are the needs of these people.”
You don't need a priest.
You don't need me.
You just need Jesus.
You just come to your Father in heaven and Jesus Christ and you say, “Lord here I am. I am struggling. I'm having difficulty. I can't move forward each and every day. But I know I am your son … I know I am your daughter… ”
And Jesus he hears that prayer and he's got the ear of God.
And he is saying, “God my Father look at this child. I am your Son … and so is this child.”
What more security do you need then that. The spiritual truth that drives your spiritual emotion every day. Enabling you to say, “No matter what I've gone through today I am the Lord servant.”
Prayer
