What’s in a Name?
When I say the name “Mark McGuire” most of you immediately recognize him because he established a new home-run record.
When I say the name “Kristi Yamaguchi” you would recognize her as figure skating superstar.
Say the name “Troy Aikman” and people immediately associate his name with his Chevrolet dealership in West Fort Worth Texas. J
So what’s in a name anyway? It helps us identify people, places and things. Names help us to categorize and place meaning on people, places and things.
Place names such as Valley Forge, Gettysberg, Normandy, the 49th Parallel, The Tet Offensive and Kuwait City are instantly recognizable to Americans because we spilled our blood on these battlefields fighting for freedom for ourselves and others. Names have meaning.
Names help us to establish reputation. Aviators for instance give each other names they call “call sign names.” So it’s not uncommon to hear aviators refer to each other as “Bomber,” “Gootch,” “Blazer,” “Bulldog,” “Dakota,” etc. These names usually have to do with an incident the aviator was involved with or with the State or City he or she is from. If you do something really stupid, you’ll get a reputation call sign like “Gear-up” which is an actual name given to a guy who landed his F-4 without putting his wheels down during a Blue Angels demonstration.
Dave Sigado was telling me about a good friend of his he met in school. Everybody called him “Tex” because he had transferred into the school from Texas. Dave can’t remember his real first name because everybody called him “Tex.”
Names in the Bible are important because they have meanings that help us understand the full picture and richness of the Bible.
Wednesday’s Bible reading was from Exodus 3. This is the Marvelous account of Moses encountering God for the first time in his life through the burning bush. In verse 10 God commissioned Moses to be God’s representative to the people and also to be the instrument through which He would deliver the children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt.
In verses 7 & 8 God tells Moses, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…”
OK preacher, that’s a nice story and I really liked the movie, but SO WHAT?
What does this ancient Bible story have to do with me. What difference will it make in my life on Monday morning?
Check it out, God is not like the Egyptian gods who are carved wood and can’t see, hear or know anything, no, He is El Shaddi, a name which means “the almighty all-powerful God”. The one and only God who can see, hear and know the condition of His people. Praise God, He is still the same yesterday, today and forever, because He sees your need, He hears your prayers, and he knows your need.
Are you in your own personal Egypt today? Are you enslaved to something? Are you controlled by something or someone?
Listen, God want’s to deliver you from your bondage.
Are you in Financial bondage?
Are you a slave to addictions like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, food binging?
Are you trapped by guilt, unbelief or stagnation?
Are you in sexual bondage, hooked on pornography and a filthy thought life?
Are you a slave to past hurts and injuries to your person and emotions?
Are you enslaved to emptiness in your life? You try to fill it with recreation but it doesn’t last? You try to fill it with life experiences that bring you a momentary rush, but when the rush is gone, life is more empty than before?
You’ve tried to do it yourself, but you couldn’t break free. You’ve asked others for help, but you couldn’t break free. You feel like a failure or even worse you feel like God either doesn’t care about you. You’ve even gone as far in your thinking to begin to believe that God isn’t real and therefore can’t rescue you.
Listen, that’s OK.
Look, Moses tried to do it himself when he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Moses recognized the brutality of the Egyptian slave-drivers and he decided to take it upon himself and do something about – so when he saw a fellow Jew being abused, he struck down and killed the Egyptian abuser. What was the result of trying to do it himself?
He had to flee Egypt to escape punishment. He became a fugitive.
Are you a fugitive today? Have you tried to do it yourself and botched it all up?
What did God say to the fugitive Moses?
He said, “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…”
God has come down today to bring you up!
Will that make a difference in your life on Monday morning?
Exodus 3: 13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ’The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ’What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?"
14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ’I AM has sent me to you.’"
15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, ’The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
In Hebrew the word for the name “I am” is “Yahweh” It’s God’s Holy Name meaning “I am the existing one.” It means “I exist and I’m the real deal!”
The name “Yahweh” was considered so holy by the Jews of Jesus’ time that they wouldn’t even say the name. Instead they would pronounce the Hebrew vowel pointings under the letters which gives us the name “Adoni.” The name “Jehovah” is the English language derivative of the Hebrew name “Yahweh.” Most modern translators translate the name “Yahweh” as “The Lord”
So, whether you say, “Yahweh,” “Jehovah,” “Adoni,” or “Lord” all four names mean the same thing, God is the great “I am” the existing one.
Listen, because I want you to get this, Jesus refers to himself as the “I am” many times in the New Testament.
Think about that for a minute. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”
The great “I am” can bring you out of bondage and into a land flowing with milk and honey.
In Thursday’s reading we red that after Moses spoke to Pharo he wouldn’t listen and not only did he not listen, he increased the workload on the already overworked Israelite slaves by making them get their own straw to make bricks.
If that had happened to us, we would have said to Moses, Hey Moses, thanks for the help, but if you call that helping – then please don’t help us any more.
I like Moses because he was a down to earth guy. He didn’t pull any punches and he was honest when he prayed. Listen to what he tells God in Exodus 5:22-23 “Lord, (I am) why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”
How many of you know it’s OK to ask God questions when we pray. And we should. There is no question too hard for God to answer, so go ahead – ask. Ask the hard questions.
In Fridays reading God answers Moses’ question:
Exodus 6:1 “Now you shall see what I will so to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. 2 God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name I am I did not make myself known to them.
4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens.
5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: ’I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’"
God reminds Moses 5 times of his name “I am” in these 8 verses.
It is critical that you get this because it is important to our understanding of who God is. You see, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob didn’t know God by the name Yahweh “I am” they only knew him by the name “El Shaddi” which means literally “God the almighty one.”
The patriarchs of Israel had learned to know God in his power and might. The knew him because each one of them had experienced God on an individual basis.
By contrast, the children of Israel didn’t know God at all. Oh, they knew about him – they had heard the stories about God growing up. They had heard of El Shaddi but they had not experienced Him themselves.
Listen church, God doesn’t have any grandchildren. If you want to know God you have to come to know Him in a personal way. You can’t rely on your parent’s or grandparent’s faith to get you into heaven. You have to have a fresh and up-close encounter with God on your own. You must be born again yourself. You can’t be baptized into salvation as an infant, you can’t enter heaven on the coat-tails of your spouse, your parents or anyone else. You must encounter the great “I am” yourself.
The situation of the children of Israel suffering under cruel slavery in Egypt is not unlike our own.
They had a problem so they cried out to God for deliverance.
They really didn’t have any faith in God, but they were desperate and would try anything, so they cried out to God.
How many of you have had a problem and have cried out to God for deliverance? How long did it take until you got an answer?
They didn’t get an answer right away – in fact, it took a long time before help arrived.
God heard their cries for help even before they prayed. In fact God knew ahead of time that the children of Israel would be in this predicament in the first place. You see, the great “I am” is an all knowing God.
God had been at work in favor of the Children of Israel long before they cried for help. In fact God had his hand on Moses from the time of his birth and he prepared him over his entire life for the unique role that he would play in the deliverance of his people.
He was saved as a baby from drowning – raised in Pharos house – trained in the desert as a shepherd – tested by fire.
God has been preparing you for a unique role in ministry all your life – what is it He has called you to do? If you don’t know you need to find out. You do that through prayer.
So, God answers their cries for help by sending Moses. You see, from the beginning, God has chosen to deliver his people through other people. Ultimately, he sent the perfect person – fully humane – fully divine – He sent Jesus – to save humanity.
Moses was God’s chosen person. God planned to use Moses to be an instrument through which He would work to save his people. But when Moses dutifully spoke to Pharaoh, the situation didn’t improve, it only grew worse.
Sometimes that happens when we pray. Why is it that sometimes things get worse before they get better when we pray?
God was about to reveal Himself to Israel as the great “I am” the absolute Being working with unbounded freedom in the performance of His promises and a miraculous salvation. But Israel was a stiff-necked people.
Remember that these are the folks that even after their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their glorious march through the desert, in which they had received so many proofs of the raw power of God and the mercy of God, even so, they repeatedly rebelled against the guidance of God, and were not content with the manna provided by the Lord, but lusted after the fishes, leeks, and onions of Egypt (Num 11) it is certain that in such a state of mind as this, they would never have been willing to leave Egypt and enter into a covenant with the “I am” without a very great increase in the oppression they endured in Egypt.
Why did things get worse before they better? Because of their heart attitudes. Sometimes when things aren’t happening when we pray we need to do an attitude check.
Does that mean that God was punishing them? No, he was just preparing them – refining them – getting them ready.
The more impossible the external circumstances look, the more God will be glorified and lifted up when he “comes down and rescues you.”
How many of you understand that Jesus is God?
God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons in one Godhead. We refer to this as the trinity.
I know the concept of the trinity is hard for some of you to grasp – I know it’s hard for me to grasp, but what I want you to see today is the connection between Jesus our “I am” and the “I am” of the Old Testament.
In last Monday’s reading in the Gospel of Matthew 16:15-17 we red, “What about you?” (Jesus) asked. “Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”
Jesus clearly taught that He was the Christ. Now the name “Christ” means “Messiah” the promised one who would bring salvation.
The Jews of Jesus’ day were confused, because they thought that the Messiah would be like the “I am” of the book of Exodus and deliver the Jews out from the bondage of the Roman government who had conquered and now occupied Israel.
But the Messiah didn’t come for a political purpose, but a spiritual purpose. Jesus came to free us from bondage to sin. He came that we might have everlasting life through Him.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit were with God the Father in the desert when they spoke to Moses from the burning bush. In fact Jesus was pre-existent. A fancy word that means that He has always existed. He didn’t have a beginning and he won’t have an end.
In John 8:56 Jesus says, “before Abraham was born, I am.”
In Revelation 1:8 Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Jesus refers to himself as the “I am” many times. Lets see what he means when he refers to himself as “I am.”
In John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Listen, Jesus the “I am” is the bread of life because he gave his body willingly as a sacrifice for our sins. When we take the bread in communion, it represents his body that he gave for us. But at the same time we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Which means that Jesus the “I am” is also Yahweh Jirah which means he is our provider. Do you need something? Jesus Jirah will meet your need!
In John 8:12 Jesus says, “ I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” Are you lost? Do you need guidance? Do you need a moral compass? Jesus is the answer.
In John 8:24 Jesus says, (allow me to paraphrase) “If you don’t believe that I am you will die in your sins.”
In John 10:9 Jesus says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
He goes on in that same chapter to declare, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me..”
In John 11:25 Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”
In John 14:20 Jesus says, “…I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
Think about that for a minute – the “I am” dwells in us who believe.
John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Did you hear that? “…apart from me you can do nothing.”?
Listen, the sooner we learn that lesson the better off we will be. Learn to rely on Jesus – let him have your load for His burden is easy and his yolk is light. Let me paraphrase that – “the backpack that Jesus gives you to carry is light compared to the heavy load you are used to carrying.” Let Jesus give you a new pack.
All of us born again christians are like Moses because we have an “I am” commission from Jesus.
Hear what Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20, “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Listen church, this is the same promise he made to Moses at the burning bush. He told Moses to go and that He would be with him.
Will that make a difference in your life on Monday morning?
It will if you take Jesus the great “I am” with you.
Altar Call:
Are you here without Jesus in your life?
Have you accepted Jesus into your life as your personal savior?
: Jesus suffered and died on the cross at Calvary so that sinners could have forgiveness of their sins and have one of the greatest gifts of all time. God’s greatest gift of all time is free, and it is available to everyone. That gift is eternal life. Listen, if you haven’t yet received this gift of eternal life and you would like to have it today – let me know by holding up your hand.
If you were to die today, do you know for a fact you would spend eternity in heaven? If you aren’t absolutely sure, you need to raise your hand so I can pray with you today.
(Wait)…………. Anyone else
I want you to pray this prayer along with me.
Prayer: O God, I recognize that I am a sinner,
that I stand in peril of suffering eternity in hell.
Please forgive me of my sins.
Jesus, come into my heart and be Lord of my life.
I renounce my old way of life and now confess you as my Lord and savior.
Thank you for loving me and dying on the cross for me.
Holy Spirit, please lead and direct my life from now on. Amen
(For the Saints)
If you need a fresh touch from God the great “I am” today, Now is the time to come forward so we can pray for you individually.
