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Sermon by Dr. Jeremiah "The Name ‘Jesus’" The Christmas season involves an almost overwhelming number of activities and events. There are the special parties and dinners, there are choral concerts and cantatas. Christmas trees, lights and decorations. And, of course, shopping, gifts, and food. It’s very possible to do all these things without experiencing the reason, the real purpose behind all the celebration. This is compounded by the fact that we live in a culture that increasingly is trying to delete Christ from the Christmas season. As our fallen world denies Christ, it’s our responsibility and opportunity as followers of Jesus Christ, and as the church of Jesus Christ, to proclaim unapologetically, unashamedly the purpose that is in this season, a season of looking forward to and celebrating the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ did come to earth in the form of a little baby, born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin. As we prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Last Supper today, I want us to look for just a few minutes at verse 21, the angel’s announcement to Joseph, "She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins." Two points speak to the importance and impact of that name "Jesus." A little boy sent the following letter to Santa Claus: "Dear Santa, There are three boys living in my house. Jeffrey is two, David is four, and Norman is seven. Jeffrey is good some of the time, David is good some of the time, and Norman is good all of the time. I am Norman." You see the problem here. Norman is not good "all of the time." None of us is good all the time. We make mistakes, we say and do dumb things. We hurt others, ourselves. That fact points to the reality of sin in our lives. All of us have sinned and sinned repeatedly, against God, against others, against ourselves. God has said in the Bible that our sin is our greatest problem in life. It fills us with regret, guilt, and shame. It robs us of hope, peace, and joy. And it separates us from God; we’re alienated from our Creator, who made us to enjoy a love relationship with Him. But instead of love, there’s now hatred between us – all because of our sin. You're familiar with the Christmas card that says, "If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, He would have sent an entertainer. But our greatest need was to be saved from our sins, and so God sent us a Savior." The first point I want to make today is that the name "Jesus" tells us the reason He came to earth. "Jesus" is the Greek form of the Hebrew name "Jeshua" or "Joshua," and it literally means, "Yahweh (or God) is salvation." And so the angel’s announcement to Joseph, "You are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins" (verse 21). At this point I have to stop and say, isn’t it incredible? The Son of God comes into the world, and His point of first contact with His people is not what’s best about us, it’s what’s worst about us. When Jesus comes to us He doesn’t meet us in our goodness, but in our badness, not in our strength, but in our weakness, not in our beauty, but in our ugliness, not in our riches, but in our poverty and need. He connects with us first at the point of our sin, which the holy God hates. That’s the mercy, the grace, the love of God. That’s incredible! Our second point is how Jesus saves His people. There are many people who believe Jesus is a great person who offers us valuable help. Muslims, for example, believe that Jesus was one of God’s great prophets. Atheists and others have written that Jesus was an outstanding moral example or a wonderful leader. I see increasingly Jesus viewed as a great teacher, a dispenser of godly wisdom. He knows the things you need to do to live a successful life. What strikes me about all these different understandings of Jesus is that there’s an admission that He can bring help to life, but the ones needing help are only willing to accept it on their own terms. It’s like the man who fell over a cliff but was able to grab hold of a branch after he fell about 15 feet. He was stuck. There was no way to climb up, and the rocky ground was another 100 feet below him. He began to call out to God for help. Suddenly he heard a voice, "Just let go, and I will save you." "Is that you, God?" "Yes it is. You've asked for My help. Just let go and I will save you." The man thought about it for a moment, and then said, "Is there someone else up there who could help me?" Even when we want help, we want it on our terms. God solves the problem on His terms. This is how His Son Jesus saves: He takes all the sins of His people on Himself. First Peter 2:24 says, Jesus "Himself bore our sins in his body." Jesus saves His people through His personal substitution, by standing in our place and suffering in our place. He saves His people from their sins by bearing the penalty of that sin. Isaiah 53:5 says, "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." That punishment was the shedding of His blood, for as Hebrews 9:22 tells us, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." The punishment was death, death on a cross. "Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous," I Peter 3:18 tells us. This is how Jesus saves His people from their sins. Realize that if men, women, boys and girls could save themselves from their sins, there would have been no reason for Jesus to have come, no reason for Jesus to have been born. There would have been no need for His life, no need for His death on the cross, no need for His resurrection. The truth: people cannot save themselves from sin. It’s just not possible. Jesus had to come. His birth, His life, His death were necessary, absolutely necessary for the salvation of His people. As the Apostle Peter declared in Acts 4:12, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to me by which we must be saved." If you participate in the sacrament, you’re making a public statement about Jesus and about yourself. At this Table you affirm Who Jesus is, the Savior. He came into the world to save sinners. To know Jesus as anything less than the Savior is to be ignorant of Him, which is to say, you do not know Him. And in this sacrament you’re also making a public statement about yourself. You declare you’re a sinner in need of help, in need of a Savior. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, you know that in Jesus you have found Him. Jesus came, He lived, He suffered, He died, and He rose from the dead, for you. You’ve been saved, rescued from the power and penalty of sin. You live in the power of Jesus’ grace and love and forgiveness, the "once and for all" forgiveness that saves you, but also that forgiveness you need every day, forgiveness that is yours as you don’t live a perfect life, as you sin, stumble, and fall each day. At this Table you also claim to be part of a special group of people, people who belong to Jesus, people Jesus claims as His own. If you’re a part of His people, you’re called to declare the glory and grace and salvation that are found only in your Savior. If salvation is found in no other name, then we His people are the only ones with the good news of God. And it is for us to declare that glorious Savior and His glorious salvation to our community, to our country, and to our world, especially in this Christmas season! |