Names of God: Jesus. Mat 1:18-21 WBC 11/12/05pm
Written by Danny Dutton, age 8, from Chula Vista, CA, for his third grade
homework assignment to "Explain God."
"One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the
ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things on
earth. He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies. I think that’s because they are
smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn’t have to take up his
valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to
mothers and fathers.
God’s second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of
this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times
besides bedtime. God doesn’t have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off.
God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps
Him pretty busy. So you shouldn’t go wasting His time by going over your
mom and dad’s head asking for something they said you couldn’t have.
Atheists are people who don’t believe in God. I don’t think there are any
in Chula Vista. At least there aren’t any who come to our church.
Jesus is God’s Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water
and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn’t want to
learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they
crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His Father that they didn’t know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK.
His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard
work on earth so He told Him He didn’t have to go out on the road anymore
- He could stay in heaven. So He did.
And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.
You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and
if there’s anybody you want to make happy, it’s God. Don’t skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong! And, besides, the sun doesn’t come out at the beach until noon anyway.
If you don’t believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very
lonely, because your parents can’t go everywhere with you, like to camp,
but God can. It is good to know He’s around you when you’re scared in the dark or when you can’t swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.
But you shouldn’t just always think of what God can do for you. I figure
God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases.
And that’s why I believe in God."
In Alpha this week we were talking about someone’s friend. I asked whether they were a Christian. To which they reply came: "well, they would SAY that they are… but I went with them to a wedding, recently, and they were all out of sorts with the wedding and when asked why said ’they kept going on about Jesus all the time at it!’"
There’s more to learn there, eh?
Because Jesus IS the name of God. Here and now. Understanding this is absolutely central to knowing God & experiencing Him
- if you want to know the name of God- it’s Jesus
- If you want to know more what God is like- look at Jesus
- If you want to know more of God, personally- you need to experience Jesus
o And, actually, we as Christians need to be able to explain why Jesus is the name above all names. From the Bible
NAME
If you want to know the name of God- it’s Jesus
Here’s the story so far. God has progressively revealed Himself over the millennia. It started with a man called Abram to whom he revealed Himself as El (God) Elyon (most high)… then El Shaddai (God Almighty)… Jehovah Jireh (provider)
And then He revealed Himself to Moses more fully by helping Him understand the nature behind His name Yahweh. The "I AM"
God made Himself increasingly known. By His names.
But the story doesn’t stop there, in the OT. There are hints and whispers of ’more’. A day when God will visit His people. A person called the Messiah who will come.
- then there are 400 years of silence at the end of the OT when God’s people cry "O Come, O come… Messiah"
And then God steps into time, history and the physical world, Himself
- He came Himself
- And His name was Jesus
Leo the great said "Invisible in His own nature [God] became visible in ours. Beyond our grasp, He chose to come within our grasp."
So Jesus is the ultimate name of God. The ultimate revelation of God. The final revelation
- the Bible isn’t. the Bible tells us about Jesus- and HE is.
- (hence why the bible is irreplaceable, inspired and essential. But we worship Jesus, not it. He is the Word)
So what, you say?
- so everything- because if you want to know/experience God it all hangs on this one name… man.
o That’s why we go on about Him!
- And if you want to lead others to LIFE in Him, you need to be able to explain about Him
Today Jesus Christ is being dispatched as the Figurehead of a Religion, a mere example. He is that, but he is infinitely more; He is salvation itself, He is the Gospel of God.
- Oswald Chambers
So- if you want to know what God is like… His nature… look at Jesus
NATURE
You see- you can’t tell what God is fully like by looking at the world around you.
- you can see evidence that He EXISTS: order, design, power, magnificence, wonder… matter (which needs energy to be created)- and something of his awesome nature
Rom 1;20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
But you don’t know about his personal nature and qualities
- particularly because the world is ’fallen’
o You don’t know that He is GOOD, for example
You know that… and that He is loving, kind, compassionate, utterly just and fair by Him revealing it
- in His word
- but ultimately in THE Word. The revelation of God: JESUS
"Oh Show us the Father!" Philip, one of the 12 cried. "That will be enough for us! That’s all we want"
- JN 14:9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?
Or as Jesus said in Jn 10:30 "I and the Father are one"
Wanna know what God is like- His nature. He is like Jesus. Jesus-like. In fact He is Jesus
Now this IS hard to understand! Even Martin Luther the great reformer described it as "a mystery beyond human understanding!"
- but isn’t it great that God isn’t limited to my understanding?!
God has always existed. He is Spirit. Without gender (though described as Father because of what that conveys and the language of the day). He is eternal.
- but when He chose to enter time and matter He did so as the Son. As Jesus. A man. God as man has the name Jesus
- and when He comes to us, now, He comes to us as the Spirit. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus
So- there is only one God… but shown/manifested in three different ways. MAYBE somewhat like water shows itself as water, ice or steam depending on its environment.
- in time He is shown as Jesus. In touching our lives, now, the Spirit
Anyway- the point I am making is- want to know God’s nature? Look at Jesus. Read about Him. Ask the question "WWJD?"- because that is what God does
Do you wonder whether God cares about you? Has compassion on you? - look at Jesus, and you’ll find YES, HE DOES!
"But how do I know that Jesus is God in the flesh, Ewen? Besides you telling me?"
- well: think about it for a moment. If someone was hungry to find their way to God and needed evidence that Jesus was/is God- could you show them?
o Could you find any verses other than the Jn 14 one I’ve just mentioned?
KNOWLEDGE
Have a think for a mo. Get your Bibles. Write them down
What passages do you have? Note these down
- Jn 1: 1 "in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the word was God" n(citing Gen 1;1)
- Jn 8:58 before Abraham was "I am"
- Jn 20:26-29 Thomas calls Jesus God and gets commended for it!
- Use of Son of God Mt 26:63-65. The Jews knew exactly what He meant- and they killed Him for it. Blasphemy
- Philippians 2:5-11. Very nature man. Very nature God. And verse 10, ’bowing the knee before Jesus’ is a quote from Is 45:23 (Ot) where all will bow the knee before God
- Calling Him Lord and worshipping Him (ie more than ’sir’) - Like Jn 9:38
- COL 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation
- COL 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
- Whole book of Titus! Tit 2:12 Our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ
Can you see why knowledge about and of Jesus is so important?
There is evidence for the deity of Jesus - good, strong, historical, cumulative evidence; evidence to which an honest person can subscribe without committing intellectual suicide.
John Stott
KNOW
Why is this important?
- because Jesus is the way to know God. Knowing Him means you can know God
- He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the way to the Father
So- for someone to say "I know God, but what’s all this Jesus business?"… shows that they don’t know God, yet, as they can and will
- intimately. Personally
- there are three main religions that believe in one God- but only in Jesus is a loving, compassionate, personal God known. Only to Christians
I could give you a number of examples of people who were churchgoers and believed in God for years before the penny dropped and they KNEW and EXPERIENCED God through Jesus.
- I can remember one saying "At last! Now I see! Know!"
Let me close with the story of how two people we met on our way to Lesotho experienced the personal nature of God through the name of Jesus. Mark and Nicki. (some of you might have heard this before0
On the Thursday night on arrival in South Africa we stayed in the farm of Robert and Ricki… and August’s ’house church’ descended on us. We were asked to contribute so we told some testimonies and then came the time for Mark to tell his. Mark was a high powered lawyer working for loan sharks. It was 80% of his income. He knew August by nature of being Rob and Ricki’s neighbours. In fact, he had asked August to do the christening of his child some years before. In fact R& R had prayed for him for 9 years. At the christening August took a bible and tore pages out of it saying ’well you want a christening, but you don’t believe this…. That… so let’s just tear them out of the bible". August then handed him the tattered bible as a christening gift! Mark wasn’t sure he understood what was going on, really!
But, years later, disquiet about making money in the way he did, off poor people, set in. He could get no peace. He knew it wasn’t right but (1) it was 80% of his income (2) ’the boys at the office’ weren’t the kind who appreciated people walking out on them… particularly when they knew so much!
But, somehow, Mark just knew one day- "if I go and do it now… it will be okay. It will be okay". He drove down to the office. The ’boys’ were in conference… all in one place. He stumbles in. "I just can’t do this any more!"
- "oh, okay, Mark. We’ve wondered how you have stuck it as long as you have"
-
He went home… still concerned over how he would survive, but having this sense ’it will be alright’. The phone started ringing. The work came in
But the story doesn’t end there. (that night?) Mark goes to bed and is woken by an audible voice calling him. He thinks he’s dreaming. Tries to go back to sleep-and the voice comes again "Mark, Mark".
Bits of the Bible come to mind- bits where Jesus speaks against wrongly made money: where he turns over the tables of the moneychangers. But the problem is he doesn’t even think he has a bible. Then he remembers: "August gave me one!". He eventually finds it… and searches for the bits that he knew were Jesus’ words so must be in the gospels. But- can’t find them anywhere! None of the bits he wants are there! None of them. Eventually he looks on the torn out sheets stuffed in the front and there.. on the back of each one August had torn out.. were the passages he was looking for.
That night mark understood that it was Jesus calling him- and He became "God most personal" that night to Mark!
But the story doesn’t end there. Nick… his wife… always religious… and believing there is a God (as do most in Africa) thinks he’s off his trolley. Mark keeps at her for years (3?) until, eventually, he gives up in desperation.
Immediately after that - while driving in the mountains… as shafts of light pierce through the clouds… on her own… the penny drops for Nicki. She has always believed in God but at that moment she understands that God is PERSONAL … for HER…and that He is personal because He can be known through Jesus.
- as she told us this she started crying. "I never knew God could be so personal … personally known… in Jesus. Mark’s the one who thinks about it all… but I KNOW it. It’s real to me"
Want to know the fullest name of God?- it’s Jesus
Want to know God in all His fullness- look to Jesus. Come through Jesus. Worship Jesus
Jn 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
