One of the funnier on-line rants was a friend of our son’s, over a seat in a classroom. They were all about month into the semester at A&M and when he came to the class, someone was in his seat. His reasoning was if your two weeks into the semester, that is your seat. So yah, I could see that, but it is just a seat. When he said something to the person, the reply was “your name wasn’t on it”. Then came the on-line explosion. I can’t possibly write all the things he said about college classroom etiquette. Not everything there was “sermon friendly”.
Remember when you were a kid at school? Oh my gosh. How many times did you hear in school “your name wasn’t on it!”
On the playground:
“You’re on my swing. I just went to pick up my shoe.”
“Your name wasn’t on it!”
In the cafeteria:
“Hey, that was my candy bar” or “I was saving that seat!”
“Your name wasn’t on it!”
Even with siblings. I can’t tell you how many times this was said growing up in our house:
“I called the couch! I was just sitting there watching TV!”
“Your name wasn’t on it!”
Remember on the movie Toy Story? Buzz showed everyone that he had been accepted into the clan when he pointed out that the little boy had written his, Andy, name on the bottom of his foot.
What about other things? We all assume at work that if our name is on our lunch in the fridge at work, everyone knows it’s ours. But that doesn’t always stop someone from eating your lunch. I was a supervisor once and a person came to me because someone ate his Popeye’s and put the box with the chicken bones back into the fridge. But that was a tough bunch to lead. Someone had even eaten all the cans of raviolis out of the Food Bank donation box. …. and from high paid avionics techs … really?
What does it say when there is a name on a building? Every day I go to work and there is my company logo in 6’ letters as I drive up. Immediately anyone coming to the facility knows exactly who works here. And if you know anything about the name, you know what they do. You can also find out the history of the place and what they stand for.
Just like any other corporation, the name on the door says a lot. When you see the name Hobby Lobby, you know from the name what’s inside; just about anything you’d need for crafting, framing, painting, or anything else to do with hobbies. It’s right in the name. You also know the store stands for principles of running and operating in a manner in line with family and Christian beliefs. They take care of their employees, and shut their doors on Sunday in respect of the sabbath.
If our name is on something, do we own it? I was reading on a real-estate legal website that if your name is on the title, then you have legal writes to that property. The legal website said:
“The fact that your name is on a deed means you have property title, giving you specific rights as a homeowner. You are the property owner when your name is on a deed. A property’s title rights give you control over how you use it and the right to sell, but generally, it varies from state to state.”1
So as I drive to church each Sunday, it is amazing how many other churches I see. What’s striking is how many have God or Christ right in the name. So if His name is on the door, it’s His house.
Does God put his name on the things that belong to him? Let’s first look at the 1st Temple. On the day the 1st temple was consecrated, it was said
1 Kings 8:10-11
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
And later in Kings it says:
1 Kings 9:3
The LORD said to him: 'I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
That building became God’s house. He dwelled there in the Holy of Holies. I think that goes for any building with His name on it. Just look outside when you pull up It says Christ right in the name. So in actuality, this place is His house. He resides here. And the proof of that is in Scripture where He says,
Matthew 18:20
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them"
This is His house. We have gathered here and therefore He dwells here. It belongs to Him.
Do we ever put names on ourselves with legal consequence? There are lots of times. Let’s start with our athletes. We all see them with Adidas, Puma, or the big swoosh-y Nike logo next to the words “Just Do It”. What does that mean to the athlete? For one, the athlete benefits from the money paid by the corporate sponsor. And the sponsor gets visibility and publicity from the athlete out on the field.
But to get those corporate funds, it becomes a legal agreement. Now the athlete is an official representative of the brand they are wearing. Sometimes so much so that there are special items specifically tied to them. Take for example, the Air Jordans. You’d must have been on another planet not to have heard these, the Nike shoe designed and worn by none other than Michael Jordan.
But in a way, the athlete is “owned” by the corporation. No, not like property… I’m not going to go down that path… but a legally binding contract of mutual benefit. The company get the immediate association with high performance. It makes all of us hanging at the gym trying for a pick-up game, go sporting our new name brand shoes because our sports hero wears them. And maybe… just maybe because we saw our hero doing the increasable aerial fetes followed by that sweet sound to the “swish”, that there’s enough sports enhancing magic in those shoes, that even the 5’7 over the hill player like me can finally do the cool hanging dunk to win the game. Or at least that’s what we believe.
But there are legal obligations this athlete adheres to. They show up for promotional appearances. They have to visibly wear the product they are paid to endorse. They can’t wear competitor’s brands of clothing or equipment. And they have a standard of conduct. It their behavior comes in conflict with the corporate image, they lose that lucrative deal and free equipment.2 Do you really think you’ll find any Wheaties boxes with Bruce Jenner now?
But the same goes for the company. The company must act in a way that people are proud to represent them. When wearing their logo, their ethics become intertwined with the wearer’s reputation. If the company is publicly found to be unethical, say it’s shoes are made by children working at or near slave conditions in some far off land, then that character spills over onto the athlete.
Look how many people dump a corporation when it no longer reflects their views. Had you heard the example of Bud Light? When the company decided to use a trans person to represent their company, suddenly all their blue-collar customer core was gone. The brand was no longer in line with their beliefs. One of the most telling signs their core had left was patronage at the 2023 Sturgis Rally. This is the biggest motorcycle event in the world. It became a running joke for people to walk by and post pics of the empty Budweiser area. With hundreds of thousands in attendance, the Bud tent remained empty for the week. They couldn’t even give free beer to bikers.
What we associate ourselves with say a lot about us.
These sponsorships have a lot in common with us being Christian. You really can wear the name of your Lord on your heart. Proverbs 3:3 (NIV): says:
"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart"
Your association with the Lord can be so much more visible than that big corporate logo written across your workout gear. Lots of us wear crosses to show we’re Christian. We want everyone to know we truly believe. That we represent God.
But, remember that without true faith, that cross does less for saving you than those Air Jordans helped me do the hanging slam dunk. When we wear His name literally or figuratively, not only are we showing our faith, but we are now representatives of Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:3
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
You really do show that you are a letter from Christ. You represent all Christians way more than you think. You’ll cross people who judge all Christians by your actions. As an example, I’ve heard some say that they tried church once and all they met were judgmental hypocrites. I want you to think, honestly in a large congregation, how many people actually are like that. I would venture that it is very few. Yet just one or two people then became the representatives for all Christians.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Our job is to be the one that people remember when they think of a Christian. We are the star athletes that make people want to be associated with Christ. When we decide to wear the Cross, or other religious symbol, we are advertising to the world that we hold ourselves to certain beliefs; that we act with a certain set of morals and ethics.
When we advertise our beliefs, we chose to have others hold us to a higher stand, as we hold ourselves to a higher standard. You bring all eyes on you by wearing His symbols.
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV) says
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
But now think about it in this light. If we have attracted those eyes on us, this is our chance to bring a testimony to others. I remember once I went to a store, and when I got back to my car and my change was wrong, and way in my favor. I walked back into the store and gave it back to the checker. They were really surprised but I explained that how could I tell my son to be a good Christian without living it myself.
And wouldn’t you want to represent him. Look how much he’s done for us. Here we are coming up on Easter. This is when we celebrate what Christ has really done for us. One of the most vivid representations was in the movie the Passion of the Christ. When I watch the scourging, the handle with multiple whips that have sharp metal objects on the end of the lines, I saw each whip open up flesh. I suddenly realized that each of those marks were to take the punishment in our place. I wondered how many of those marks did he endure that were meant for me. I think about that every time I do something that I know was wrong, I think back to knowing he just took another whip for me. He did that so our debt for sin could be paid.
A Master who loves his children that much is certainly someone we would all want to represent. Doesn’t that make your hear swell to wear his logo? Doesn’t that make it wonderful that you can be a representative of someone who loves us all that much?
But, if you wear the symbols of Christ, be cautions not to be like the Pharisees. In Matthew, it tells us:
Matthew 23:5-7
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
Also, remember that no matter what, Jesus writes his name on the inside, even when we don’t have it on the outside.
Jeremiah 31:33 (NIV) “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
With the Lord’s name written on our hearts, we need to go forth showing the world what a wonderful gift it is to be called one of his people.
Amen
1. https://attorneysre.com/if-my-name-is-on-the-deed-do-i-own-the-property/
2. https://www.romanolaw.com/athlete-sponsorship-agreements-legal-dos-and-donts/
