The Only Name that Matters!
The world says to make a name for yourself. God says deny your own name-making and take
up your cross to follow Him. We can get
so distracted making a name for ourselves in this world that we don’t hear when
Jesus is calling our name.
Mary Magdalene knew what it meant to hear Jesus call her
name. Jesus had driven 7 demons out of
her. She became all about His name and
her name had meaning in Him. John 20:10-18
Abraham heard God calling his name to leave all he knew and go
with God. God also changed his name from
father of no one to “father of many.”
Gen. 12:1-4
John tells us in his gospel in 1:12 that He will change anyone’s
name who believes in His name. “To those who believed in His name, he gave the
right to become children of God.”
John 1:46 gives us the name Nazareth. Can any good name come from there?
John 3:18 tells us that whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only
son.
John 3:30 says, “He (His name) must become greater; I (my name)
must become less.”
John 5:43 reminds us that we are more likely to accept things in
a human name rather than God’s name by faith.
“I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t accept me; but if
someone comes in his own name, you will accept him.”
There is a confidence that fills us when we come in Jesus' name:
John 8:14, “…for I know where I came from and where I am going.”
We are blessed and protected when we go out in the name of
Jesus: John 12:13, 17:11
Even a lost person saw the power of Jesus’ name…Pilate ordered a
sign made that said “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” John 19:19
Jn. 20:31 “…that by believing, you may have life in His NAME!”
All of these verses are convicting reasons to walk in the new
name Jesus gives to us after salvation, but the flesh slips back in and we can
begin to doubt. We can get discouraged
and drift back to an old name. In John
21, the disciples were sad, discouraged, and just went back to the names they
knew…fishermen. Peter said something like
this, “I am going fishing.” That is what
Peter knew. The rest said, “We’ll go
with you.” Jesus called out to them from
the shore. John was the first to
recognize Him, but Peter was the first to go to Him. Peter jumped into the water to swim to Jesus. He tried to go back to the name Simon,
fisherman, but Jesus had changed his name to Peter- the rock. When God changed our name, going back always
leads to empty nets, empty plans, empty hearts, and empty lives. The net is full when we press on to share in
His name.
Jesus goes on to call Peter out for service and re-affirm him in
John 21. Peter is still struggling with
the whole his name for Jesus’ name thing in John 21. Peter is asking, “so if I follow you, what
about John?” Jesus gets straight to the
point, “If I want him to live until I return, what is that to you? You must follow ME!”
Peter obviously got the whole “his
name for Jesus’ name” thing by the book of Acts!
1. Acts
2:21 opens with Peter preaching, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved!”
2. In
Acts 4:12 Peter preaches, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name by which we must be saved!”
3. Acts
4:13 “When they saw the courage of Peter and John, and realized that they were
unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these
men had been with Jesus!”
4. Acts
4:18-19 ‘Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or
teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for
yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For
we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard!”’
Have you called on His name for salvation?
Do others see the courage of Jesus in you no matter how ordinary
you feel?
Have you gone back to fishing when God has called you to
something else?
Do you spend more time obeying man than God?
Do you run like Mary crying, “I have seen the Lord?”
Do you proclaim his name above your own?
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