“God Names Himself”
Matthew 1:18-21
12/31/06 (Evening)
In the book of Genesis it is written that from the
ground God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the
sky. He then brought them to the man, Adam, to see what he would
call them. And whatever Adam called an animal, that was its
name. And Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of
the sky, and to every beast of the field. Adam even named
Eve. But the one person he was not given to name was God.
To name something is to have authority over it. So parents name
their children, and children name their pets. But no one gets to
name God, because no one is over God. God alone names Himself,
and He names Himself for our benefit.
God doesn’t give Himself a Name that would
suggest that He hates us or that He’s angry with us. He
doesn’t want us to know Him as a wrathful God who’d like to
kill us and send us to hell. Rather, He wants to be known as a
gracious and merciful Savior. And so, here in tonight’s
Gospel text as we celebrate the Eve of the Name of Jesus, God through
His angel tells Joseph the Name that he was to give to God in the
flesh, the Name by which God wants to be known. That Name is the
Name of Jesus, a Name which means “God is salvation.”
And then the angel gives the reason for naming this Child
“Jesus,” and that is because He would save His people from
their sins. This Child was going to do just what His Name
proclaimed. He was going to be His Name for us - God our Savior.
Therefore, in order to know God properly one must
know Him by His Name - the Name which He has given Himself, the Name by
which He reveals Himself to us. To call Him “The Man
Upstairs” or “Buddha” or “Allah” or
“Krishna” won’t do. Such names betray ignorance
of who God is and what He does for us. God gives us His Name as a
gift, so that we might know Him, call upon Him, and receive the
benefits that He gives us through His Name. And so, to ensure
that the gift of His Name not be lost, God commanded that His Name not
be taken in vain. This is the second of His 10
commandments. But before giving this command to His people, God
reminded them that He was the LORD their God who had brought them out
of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery. He had done
His Name for them by saving them from their oppressors. He wanted
His people, then, to know Him by this Name, to use His Name rightly,
and not to call upon the names of any other gods. As Luther
explains, they were to fear and love God, so that they might not curse,
swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His Name, but call upon His
Name in every trouble, and with it pray, praise, and give thanks to
God.
Today, we Christians are given the Name of Jesus for
exactly the same reasons. God has done His Name for us in saving
us from our captivity and slavery under sin, death, and the devil
through His work on the cross. First, He wants us to receive the
gifts He gives us by His Name, the gifts He earned for us by doing His
Name on the cross - the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
These gifts came to you when He place His Name upon you at your
Baptism. With that Name came all that God your Savior did for you
by His Name. Having given you His Name and its benefits, now He
wants you to use His Name by calling upon it in every trouble as well
as using it to pray, praise, and give thanks to God for what He has
done for you by that Name. You are not to misuse the Name for
evil purposes, nor neglect to use His Name, nor call on the names of
other gods. Luther remarks that the greatest misuse of
God’s Name is the preaching and teaching of false doctrine in His
Name.
But we fail at this commandment all the time, both
by what we do with His Name that we shouldn’t, and by not doing
with His Name what we should. We treat His Name as an unholy
thing, especially when we don’t call upon it all, when we use it
to curse others, when we speak what is untrue about God and His Word,
and when we live our lives as if His Name had not been placed upon
us. For these things we deserve to have the Lord’s Name
taken away from us. God says that He will not leave him
unpunished who takes His Name in vain.
Yet, in doing His Name for you, Jesus takes that
punishment away from you and puts it upon Himself. He does His
Name in saving you from your sins, even the sin of abusing His
Name. And so by way of His Word and Sacraments He continues to
lead you to His cross where the doing of His Name was visibly portrayed
in His suffering and death. There your failure at keeping His
Name holy was also atoned for with His blood. And He reminds you
that it was for sinners such as yourselves that He did His Name, and
that it is to sinners such as yourselves that He has given His
Name. He reminds you that, though you deserve to have His Name
removed from you, He has not, in fact, removed it from you. You
may have abandoned it for a while, but now He has brought you back to
repentance and faith in His Name and again given to you the gifts of
forgiveness, life, and salvation that He won for you by His Name.
So then the Lord teaches you to pray that His Name
might be hallowed, in order that you might not continue to treat it as
an unholy thing, but hold onto it as your greatest treasure. As
Luther explains, “God’s Name is indeed holy in itself; but
we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us
also.” And how is this done? “When the Word of
God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as children of God, also
lead a holy life according to it. This grant us, dear Father in
heaven. But those who teach and live otherwise than God’s
Word teaches, profane the Name of God among us. From this
preserve us, Father in heaven.” Again, God wants to ensure
that nothing hinders the gifts from coming to you that He gives you by
His Name. These gifts are delivered to you by His Word. If
His Word is not being proclaimed or taught in its truth and purity,
then you will not be receiving the benefits of His Name. And when
the benefits of God’s Name are hindered from getting to you, then
you will not be living according to His Word - living in faith towards
God and in love towards one another.
But we cannot treat God’s Name as holy without
God’s enabling us to do so. And so we pray that the Father
grant this to us by His grace. By His grace He has done His Name
for you, by His grace He has given you His Name, and by His grace He
will continue to keep you in His Name. And so He continues to
apply His Name to you, that you might always abide in His Name.
He does this by way of the invocation spoken at the beginning of each
service, reminding you of your Baptism, where He gave His Name to
you. And He does this by way of the benediction at the end of
each service, where He blesses you with His Name. In the O.T. God
had told the priests how they were to bless His people. They were
to say, “The LORD bless you and keep you, the LORD make His face
shine upon and be gracious unto you, the LORD look upon you with favor
and give you peace.” And God said, “So shall they put
my Name on the sons of Israel, and I will then bless them.”
And so the Lord does for you, His people, redeemed
with the blood of Jesus, today. You have been
“Jesused” with the Name that God has given His Son.
Into this Name you have been put, and in this Name you are being
kept. With this Name God has saved you from your sins. With
this Name He has claimed you as His children. With this Name He
has given you Himself. With this Name He has set you apart as
holy to Him. With this Name He has made you an heir with Jesus of
His kingdom. With this Name He blesses you. And with this
Name you may call upon Him in every trouble and use His Name in prayer,
praise, and thanksgiving. Its impossible to list all the
blessings that God gives you with His Name. These are just a
few. There’s always more.
Tonight we celebrate the Name that God has given
Himself whereby we might know Him and what He has done for us. It
is the Name of Jesus, God our Savior. As the Apostle Peter says,
“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other Name
under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be
saved.” May the joy of this gift and the salvation it
brings you be yours not only tonight and throughout the New Year, but
also for the rest of your life, for as many days as the Lord grants you
to live under His Name. Amen.