Son Of The Most High Series

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.