EVERY KNEE WILL BOW AT THE NAME OF JESUS
Phip. 2:5-11
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: KITTEN CHURCH MEMBERS
1. A mother looked out a window and saw Johnny playing church with their three kittens.
2. He had them lined up and was preaching to them. The mother turned around to do some work.
3. A while later she heard meowing and scratching on the door. She went to the window and saw Johnny was BAPTIZING the kittens.
4. She opened the window and said, "Johnny, stop that! You’ll drown those kittens.”
5. Johnny looked at her and said with much conviction in his voice: "They shoulda had thought about that before they joined MY church." [Jeff Strite]
B. NAMES ARE IMPORTANT
1. IDENTITY.
a. You’re standing in a crowded, noisy room—and someone calls your name. Instantly your ears perk up because that combination of sounds comes to be associated with your identity.
b. Family members travel to the Vietnam Memorial where they search for a name and run their fingers over it – because that name is precious! So is the name of Jesus!
2. SELF-FULFILLING.
a. Psychologists studying juvenile delinquents discovered that those with odd or embarrassing names were 4X more likely to get in trouble than kids with traditional names.
b. Malaysia has banned names like : Ah Gong, which means Unsound Mind; Sum Seng, which means Gangster; and Chow Tow, which means Smelly Head – for this reason.
3. SPIRITUALLY names have significance. “Jacob” means “heel grabber,” “Peter” means “rock.” “The angel told Mary the mother of Jesus, ‘You are to give Him the name JESUS, because He will save His people from their sins’” Mt. 1:21.
C. TEXT & THESIS
1. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
2. This message is entitled, “Every Knee Will Bow at the Name of Jesus!” Let’s look at the 5 “E’s” about the Name of Jesus. First...
I. IT’S AN EASY NAME
A. NOT COMPLICATED
1. I love the name of Jesus because it’s easy to say and remember. It’s only got two syllables—just five letters. It’s not like a lot of names in the Bible: Tiglath Pelezer, Adonibezek, Mephibosheth, Zerubbabel, Zaphenath-Paneah, etc.
2. The name Jesus is simple enough for a small child to learn. So simple -- if you need to be saved -- all you have to do is say “Jesus save me!”
3. If someone is drowning, or about to be hit by a car, or is a soldier dying on a battlefield - they only need to breathe, “Jesus! Save me!” Acts 2:21 says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
B. BUT THIS NAME HAS BEEN RESISTED
1. Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, has created firestorms when he’s used the name ‘Jesus’ in public prayers. As long as people pray to a generic God – or to Buddha, Mohammed, or to Goddess Gaia – there’s no problem.
2. But if you say “Jesus” – get ready – the political thought police will take offense. Why? Because it’s a name that has power in the spiritual realm! It’s amazing how those who lecture Christians on tolerance have zero tolerance for the name of Jesus!
3. It wasn’t any different in the 1st Century. The Jewish leaders forbid the Apostles “to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” Acts 4:18.
4. So Church, today, we must NOT hesitant to speak the Name of Jesus. The world wants to silence us, but God has told us to tell everyone about that Name!
II. IT’S AN ENDURING NAME
A. OBSCURE, YET OMNIPRESENT
1. How is it possible that a person born in obscurity 2,000 years ago, who died as a criminal in a 3rd world country, is still the most well-known name in history!
2. Jesus’ face and name have been on the cover of LIFE, TIME, NEWSWEEK…& NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC more than any other person. He’s one of the top internet searches every year!
B. VAIN ATTEMPTS TO ERASE IT
1. Roman Caesars have tried to destroy His name; Communism, atheism, & pseudo-science have tried to stamp it out.
2. Tyrants and foreign religions have tried to eradicate it from the face of the earth, spilling the blood of martyrs -- yet the name of Jesus still stands!
3. Napoleon Bonaparte said, “I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every person in the world there is no possible term of comparison.”
4. As Paul told the Philippians, when that final day of history dawns, “Every knee WILL bow and every tongue WILL confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!” Third...
III. IT’S AN ESTEEMED NAME
A. IT’S THE ONLY NAME RECOG. IN HEAVEN
1. Years ago, Paul Borthwick boarded a plane. Secret Service agents arrived in first class, followed by former President Gerald Ford. Borthwick thought, “I’ve never met a President. I’ll go introduce myself.”
2. But the S.S. Agents stood between them & he knew he’d never get to the President. He spoke boldly: “President Ford, I just wanted to meet you. I know your son, Mike.” They talked briefly, mostly about Mike. MIKE’S NAME GAVE HIM AUTHORITY TO APPROACH THE PRESIDENT!
3. IT’S THE SAME WAY IN HEAVEN – the name of Jesus gives us power to approach the throne! The Name of Jesus is a key to heaven! “Truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” Jn. 16:23.
B. IT’S THE ONLY NAME RECOG. BY HELL
1. The name of Jesus still makes demons tremble! Luke 10:17 records, “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!" They were shocked by the power of the Name of Jesus.
2. The demons would have laughed if Peter, James, or John commanded them in their own names. But those demons became cowards whenever Jesus’ name was mentioned.
3. Demons told 7 Jewish imposters, "Jesus I know and Paul I’ve heard about, but who are you?" and then gave them a lesson in authority (a beating)! Acts 19:13-16. Fourthly...
IV. IT’S AN EXCLUSIVE NAME
A. IT’S THE ONLY NAME THAT CAN SAVE YOU
1. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
2. Jesus is the only way to God—because Jesus is the ONLY SON of God—the ONLY SINLESS man Who ever lived—and therefore the ONLY ONE WHO COULD DIE for our sins.
3. All in the world are sinners—in desperate need of a Savior. Romans 3:11-12; 23 says, “There’s no one who’s righteous, not even one; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death….”
4. The ONLY WAY we can be saved is through the amazing unfathomable GRACE of God seen on the cross.
B. HOW IT CONVERTED A WITCH
1. Missionary Bernie Smith was in Togo, West Africa. There was a witchdoctor named Ayawa who had practiced her dark arts for many years and was wealthy and well known. One day her daughter, Yovovi woke up, but couldn’t see: she had become blind!
2. Ayawa was frightened. Why would the spirits do this to her daughter? Ayawa knew she was powerless to stop them. She must find A GREATER POWER!
3. She’d heard about the Holy Ghost Christians – that they had power over the spirits, so she took Yovovi to the home of an Assemblies of God pastor.
4. The pastor & his wife prayed for Yovovi for 2 hours. Nothing happened. “We’ll come back after church.” They brought several prayer warriors & prayed. Still nothing. They came back that evening and prayed IN THE NAME OF JESUS! Afterward, they went home.
5. The next morning, Ayawa brought Yovovi to the pastor’s house. “Look!” she said excitedly. “My daughter can see! She is healed!” “God is faithful!” the pastor said.
6. Ayawa asked the pastor to pray for her daughter to become a Christian & Yovovi gave her heart to Jesus and is still serving the Lord in her church today! Information from missionary Bernie Smith and the Assemblies of God World Missions.
V. IT’S AN EMPOWERING NAME
A. PRACTICAL IMPACT. The Name of Jesus has empowered Christians not only spiritually, but in practical ways to help alter the world’s poverty, illness, ignorance, and injustice.
1. It was Christians who started organizations like the Red Cross & The Salvation Army. It was Christians who developed hospitals and promoted medicine.
2. The greatest universities were founded by Christians for Christian purposes: Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and others.
3. Most of the world’s languages were first put into print by Christian missionaries who taught the native peoples how to read. Literacy.
4. Most of the most ardent Anti-slavery heroes and organizations were founded by Christians: William Wilberforce, Charles Finney and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated their lives to equal rights regardless of gender or skin color.
B. THERE’S SPIRITUAL POWER IN THAT NAME
1. We’re SAVED through that Name; “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” Jn. 14:6. There’s FORGIVENESS in Him alone.
2. Jesus is PRESENT among us when we gather in His Name, Mt. 18:20.
3. We’re to PREACH in His Name to all nations, Lk. 24:47.
4. HEALINGS are performed by the Name of Jesus; “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well" Mk. 16:17-18.
5. Every kind of sickness yielded to that Name: blindness, deafness, leprosy, fevers, paralysis, epilepsy, even death itself yielded to the Name of Jesus!
6. Peter said, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this (lame) man whom you see...made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him” Acts 3:16.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. E. P. Scott was a missionary to India. Ignoring the pleadings of his friends, he set off to reach deadly savages. Several days later, he met a large party of warriors who surrounded him, their spears pointed at his heart.
2. Expecting to die at any moment, Scott breathed a prayer, closed his eyes, and began to sing, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name…”
3. After singing the first verse, the second, & the third, Scott realized he was still alive, and that all around him was a peaceful quiet.
4. Opening his eyes he saw every spear lowered. There stood those deadly warriors, with tears in their eyes, touched by the mighty Spirit that animated him!
5. Scott spent the next two years evangelizing that people group, telling them all about Jesus Who came to save them.
B. THE CALL
1. Our Scripture this morning said that the day will come when “Every knee will bow & every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.” Have you done that yet? The Bible says, “All who call on the Name of the Lord – Jesus – shall be saved.” Let’s pray.
2. SING HYMN, “ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME,” (Oliver Holden tune)
[Based on messages by Mark Adams/ David Jeremiah]
