In Jesus’ Name

Because there is no other name by which we must be saved, we can only pray in Jesus’ name which is the name above every name.

Peter J Blackburn

A series of three sermons preached in the Uniting Church, Edmonton, North Queensland on 9th, 16th and 23rd October 2011.

© Peter J Blackburn 2011

Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible Society, 1984.

Preface

This short sermon series at Edmonton Uniting Church in October 2011 endeavours to explore three facets of an important subject – the Name of Jesus.

Taken before the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, Peter and John were bold to declare that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 3.12).

In our multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious society it may well be thought to be confronting, arrogant, non-inclusive and discriminatory to say that there is “no other name by which we must be saved”. It is all too easy to suppress the gospel truth for fear of offence. Yet it is truth we are talking about – truth that alone can bring hope and healing in our world.

In the second sermon I mention the concern of one of our ministers that “most of our public praying is no longer in the name of Jesus”. We need to say clearly that there is no other basis for our approach to God in prayer. It is much more than a correct “formula”, but an attitude. Yet somehow the regular omission of the words “in Jesus’ name” suggest a serious slip in our understanding of our relationship to the Lord.

And the one in whom we have salvation and through whom we can approach the Father has been given the “name above every name”. He is Lord, and with my tongue and with my life I need to confess him as my Lord.

Three songs are mentioned in the course of these sermons. The music and words are available on my website –

“In Jesus’ Name” http://peterjblackburn.net/songs/injesusname.pdf

“The Lord of Me” http://www.peterjblackburn.net/songs/sam37.pdf

“Jesus is Lord!” http://www.peterjblackburn.net/songs/jesuslrd.pdf

God bless you! He will!

Peter J Blackburn, Allingham.

No Other Name

Readings: John 14.1-14; Acts 4.1-12

The preamble of the original Australian Constitution states that “the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth”. This commitment has had many implications for our society based on an overt commitment to a Judaeo-Christian understanding of right and wrong.

As a nation we have no “established” religion as such, though federal, state and local governments have always been opened with Christian prayer. We are multicultural, welcoming immigrants from many different backgrounds. We have prided ourselves in our freedom of religion and have nurtured the virtue of tolerance. From a Christian point of view, tolerance is important. After all, people can’t become Christian by force or even by the fact of having been born into a so-called “Christian” nation or family. As someone has put it, God doesn’t have any grandchildren.

This doesn’t, however, mean that there isn’t any absolute truth or absolute standard of right and wrong. Back in the 1920s the British parliament was debating the introduction of a new Prayer Book – that’s where some decisions have to be made for an “established” church. During one of the breaks in proceedings, one MP was overheard to comment to another, “I don’t know what all this fuss is about. Surely we all believe in some sort of something!”

Debates seem to get caught between fussiness and fuzziness! Dare we say that there are absolutes whose denial cannot be tolerated? At the moment, should the definition of marriage be changed to refer to two persons without respect to gender? Then why not polygamy too? That is also a current issue, though rather less vocally pressed at the moment than the former.

Only One Way

God loves all people. God doesn’t want anybody to perish. God wants all people in his family. Right? You can find all the texts to support that. Yet we hear Jesus himself insisting, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14.6).

Jesus had been preparing his disciples for the reality that the time would soon come when he would no longer be physically present with them. Earlier he had told them clearly that he would die a violent death, instigated by the Jewish rulers, and that he would rise to life on the third day. They were so appalled at the thought of his crucifixion that they hardly heard the promise of his resurrection (Matthew 16.21-22). We know from Acts 1 that, as the risen Christ, he appeared to them over a period of forty days (Acts 1.3). In his final commissioning words we hear his promise to be with them, no longer as a physical presence, but through the Holy Spirit who would come (Matthew 28.18-20; Luke 24.46-49).

At the end of John 13, the betrayer having left, Jesus began talking to them again about his “going”. They couldn’t come with him just yet, but they were to love one another. Simon Peter wanted to know, “Lord, where are you going?” (v. 36) He was super-confident he could lay down his life for Jesus (v. 37).

Peter meant well, but he would deny Jesus three times. By his “going” Jesus would prepare a place for them – and for us! Then he would return to take them to be with him.

Now the question is on Thomas’ lips, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (14.5)

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (v. 6).

That’s an incredible and exclusive claim! The loving, all-embracing Jesus is saying in quite unambiguous and inescapable terms that there is no other way to the Father except through him – no “ifs” or “buts” about it!

Jesus is the Way. Only through Jesus, only through his sacrificial death on the cross soon to be accomplished, only through Jesus, risen victorious over sin and death... “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” (13.36). The way to forgiveness and life hasn’t been opened yet. That’s coming soon, but don’t forget, “I am the Way”.

Jesus is the Truth. He is described in John 1 as the Word through whom God made all things. It’s not just that he speaks the truth, but he is the Truth. Undoubtedly there are nuggets of truth to be found in other religions. I think it was Confucius who said, “Don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do for you.” This has sometimes been called the Golden Rule in reverse. It expresses the practical truth, even though in a negative sense. But Jesus is the Truth about God! He is, in his own person, the Revelation of God. Listen to Hebrew 1.3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

Jesus is the Life. It is not that Jesus gives us a lifestyle to follow. He is the Life. The apostle Paul again and again speaks of the Christian as a person “in Christ”. John 1.4 says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” In 1 John 4.11-12, we read, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

No Other Name

Peter and John were going into the Temple at the time of prayer – about three in the afternoon. A lame beggar was sitting at the gate called Beautiful asking for money. Peter said to him, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3.6). He helped him up and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

Naturally a crowd gathered and Peter told them, Don’t look at us. We haven’t done this – “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see” (v. 16).

As you can imagine, the Jewish authorities were greatly disturbed when they found out what was happening. They had Peter and John brought before them – “By what power or what name did you do this?” (4.7). Peter’s response was very direct – “If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed... Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (vv. vv. 9-10,12).

W.C. Fields, the American actor and comedian, died in 1946. It is said that when he was on his deathbed, a visitor found him reading the Bible. Asked what he was doing, he replied, “Looking for loopholes, my friend. Looking for loopholes.”

There are no loopholes. There is no other name by which we can be saved – only the name of Jesus.

What does that mean for us in our multicultural, tolerant, easy-going, somewhat irreligious... Australia?

The first call is on us. Are we trusting in Jesus alone as the Way, the Truth and the Life, knowing that only through him – only through his full, perfect and complete sacrifice for our sin, only through his risen ascended intercessory life – only through him can we come to the Father?

Then there is the call on us as a congregation of the Lord’s people. The risen Jesus said to his disciples, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.46-49).

SriLankan Christian leader, D.T. Niles said that “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread”. Jesus is the Bread of life. Have you found bread? People are searching all over the place for meaning, fulfilment, life... They have a deep yearning to get in touch with “some sort of something”. They are trying many many “ways”. But there’s only one way. There’s only one name by which we can know salvation – the name of Jesus. It’s time to share the bread.

In Jesus’ Name

Reading: John 16.16-24

Last Sunday we had two Bible readings. We were reminded from John 14 that Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And from Acts 4 where Peter said to the Jewish leaders, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed... Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”.

Both lead to the inescapable conclusion that there is only one Saviour – Jesus – and that it is only through Jesus that we can come to know the Father.

A few years ago one of our northern ministers expressed his concern that most of our public praying is no longer in the name of Jesus. It is not simply the question of concluding our prayers “in Jesus’ name” as a correct formula at the end of a Christian prayer. After all, this phrase isn’t at the end of the model prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer. Nor does the use of these words give some kind of guarantee that “this prayer must be answered” (note the experience of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19.13-16!). However, if we believe that we can only come in prayer because of who Jesus is and the redemptive work he accomplished on the cross, it is appropriate to conclude our praying with an acknowledgement of the Name in which we come.

A recent post from the US notes, “The North Carolina General Assembly is reviewing its policies on guest chaplains after Winston-Salem pastor Ron Baity was told he could not pray in Jesus’ name. Meanwhile, the group Atheists of Florida is suing the City of Lakeland over its opening invocations ‘in Jesus’ name.’ Several governmental bodies around the country are facing similar fights.”

One of the responses to this issue has come from William Willimon, a bishop of the United Methodist Church, “In public praying, I think Christians attempt to be as hospitable as they can, knowing there are people from other faiths there. On the other hand, we pray in Jesus’ name, whether we mention Jesus or not. So whether Jesus’ name is mentioned, we do have to pray in Jesus’ name. That would mean when I pray a public prayer, I want to sound like a Christian, and I’m not offended if somebody comes up and says ‘Gee, that was a Christian prayer.’ I think, ‘Well, you know I’m a Christian’.”

When we have seen a photo of a church leader kneeling and praying or meditating alongside the Dalai Lama, we ask ourselves, What is going on here? Of course, in 1989 Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth (and present) Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his consistent opposition to the use of violence in his struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He deserves a great deal of respect and honour. Is he the reincarnation of his predecessors? No. Is he a bodhisattva – a perfect human being who is ready to break out of the cycle of reincarnation and enter Nirvana? No, that is a false understanding which doesn’t accord with the truth.

Praying in the Name

John chapters 14, 15 and 16 all have some of what Jesus said to his disciples about praying in his name.

You may have noticed it at the end of last Sunday’s reading – “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14.13-14).

Jesus has been preparing his disciples for the time when he would no longer be physically present with them. Having told them that he is “the way and the truth and the life” through whom alone there is access to the Father, he goes on to speak of his work – the work done by “the Father living in me” (v. 10). And those who have faith in him will continue doing his work “because I am going to the Father” (v. 12). That is the context of what he goes on to say, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name...” They will be his representatives on earth. Their mission will be to continue and fulfil the next stage of his mission. It will be beyond their abilities – only possible because he is going to the Father and will send the Holy Spirit on them. So their asking in his name is for the supply of all their needs in fulfilling his mission.

In John 15 Jesus speaks about the vine and the branches. Each branch (disciple) draws its life from the vine-stock (Jesus) and is pruned by the gardener (God) for the purpose of producing fruit. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other” (vv. 16-17).

So what is this fruit that will last? Is it the gathering of many believers into the Kingdom? Maybe, but the main focus is on character – the character than can only be produced as a person remains united to Christ. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (vv. 7-8). There is a rather big condition there – “if you remain in me and my words remain in you” – so it isn’t a carte blanche for us to ask irresponsibly. And he goes on, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (vv. 9-12).

So the “fruit” the Lord most deeply desires to see in us is genuine love. On that basis “the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul writes that “if anyone is in Christ, he (or she!) is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (5.17). Actually, in the original Greek Paul is so excited that he leaves out the verbs – literally it reads, “if any in Christ, new creation!” Ever get discouraged? Don’t see it properly yet? Then come to the Father. That’s the prayer to ask “in Jesus’ name”. Any slowness to see it happen is on our side, not God’s!

As we move into John 16 the theme is specifically the task he is giving them – the persecution they will face (vv. 1-4) and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world to bring about conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment (vv. 8-11) and in them, as the Spirit of truth, by making the truth of Christ clear to them (vv. 12-15).

But a change is coming in their relationship to him. “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me” (v. 16). They are puzzled, confused, though to us the reference is obvious – they will grieve when he is crucified and rejoice at his resurrection. However, there will be a radical difference. Up to now they have simply brought their issues to Jesus. “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (vv. 23-24).

Jesus goes on, “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (vv. 25-28).

Of course, Jesus, our great High Priest, “ever lives to intercede” for us (Hebrews 7.25; and in Romans 8.34), and “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8.26). What Jesus is saying in these verses from John 16 is that they will have – and that we now have – direct access to the Father in his name. We will ask the Father directly in his name.

The Basis of Christian Prayer

The Christian life is a life “in Christ”. It is only possible through Jesus who is “the way, the truth and the life”. It is only possible because Jesus gave his life on the cross as the perfect and complete sacrifice for human sin. It is only possible because Jesus rose to life again on the third day, having conquered sin and death. It is only possible because Jesus ascended to the right-hand of the Father where he ever lives to intercede for us.

The Christian life is a life united to Christ, abiding in him, drawing vitality from him, expressing his character and life within the life of this world. In a real sense it is the life of Christ through us. When we think of the Church as the Body of Christ, we aren’t thinking principally of the group of his followers, of those who give him allegiance. Rather, the Body is the means by which Christ continues to do his work in the world.

So what is the basis of Christian praying? Do we simply throw our desires into the air, hoping that somehow the loving Lord will catch them and do something about them? No, that’s not Christian prayer! Christian prayer is “in the name of Jesus”, and that means:

• We come as sinners redeemed at great cost by the precious blood of Jesus.

• We come, ourselves unworthy, as those welcomed into the Father’s family by Jesus the worthy one. We come with confidence (Hebrews 10.19-25) in the name of Jesus.

• We come as those who are joined to him, receiving his grace day by day and moment by moment.

• We come as part of Jesus’ Body whom he equips to live out and continue his mission in the world.

We pray in Jesus’ name. We can no other because there is no other.

Father, we come

in Jesus’ name!

We cannot come

except he came –

Jesus who took

our sin and shame.

In him we live,

in him we grow,

our life to give,

his grace to know,

living for him

while here below.

Father, we come

to heed your call,

needing your will

or else we fall,

centred on you,

our All-in-all.

Name Above Every Name

Reading: Philippians 2.1-11

We have been served well by six brands of car. Last year when we were looking for a new car I asked our mechanic at Forrest Beach his opinion of cars these days. He mentioned his preference and then said, “Really, there’s not a lot to pick between them!”

I think that’s how many folk sum up all the available religious gurus. People may have their favourites, but “really, there’s not a lot to pick between them!”

So some may take offence at the claims we have been talking about over the past two weeks. Jesus claimed that there is only one way to come to the Father and he is that Way. Peter asserted that the name of Jesus is the only name by which salvation is possible for anyone. Because of this we insist that the distinctive of true prayer is that it is “in the name of Jesus”, whether that phrase is used or not. That’s not just a personal preference – some quirky Christian “thing”. If there is no other way to access God, no other approach is true prayer at all.

Emptied

In Philippians 2 Paul notes a number of commendable things he observes among the Philippian believers. He wasn’t confronting the threat of false teaching as he had in Galatians and Colossians, nor the excesses and divisions that existed among the Corinthians. This letter is marked by warmth and encouragement. Our Christian life centres on Christ, and it is important that we humble ourselves, that we consciously allow Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives – Jesus who has given us the supreme example of humility.

Verses 6 to 11 may have been an early Christian confession or hymn. It begins with Jesus’ glory and ends with his glory and in-between gives the picture of his self-humiliation.

Christ Jesus “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” (v. 6). “Being in the form of God” as the King James put it – these words point clearly to the eternal pre-existent nature of Christ Jesus. He was always part of the Godhead.

“Thought it not robbery to be equal with God” in King James – the Greek word refers to an act of seizure or grasping, which is why the King James has “robbery”. He didn’t hang on to all the prerogatives that were part of his essential being. Instead, he “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (v. 7).

How would you tell which is Jesus in a crowd? Look for a glow of light around his head? No, the halo was added by Christian artists somewhere in the fourth century. However, there was no external “thing” that distinguished Jesus from other men.

The “very nature” of God... the “very nature” of a servant... – the same Greek word is used. “In human likeness” doesn’t mean that Jesus only looked like a man. He was in every way a man. And so, as we read in Hebrews 4.15, he was “tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin”.

Humbled and Obedient

Not only did he empty himself and become a man, but, “being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (v. 8). The word used doesn’t mean that he obeyed death, but that he was obedient “right up to the point of” death.

Think of Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 5.39). Or Peter, speaking to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Acts 2.23). The prophetic words about the suffering Servant in Isaiah 53.10, “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand”.

The crucifixion of Jesus was the most dastardly human act, the biggest miscarriage of human justice, the most deliberate rejection of God, the most unforgivable human sin... It was all of that, but that wasn’t all of what was happening. Remarkably, we hear Jesus on the cross saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23.34). Peter, speaking to the crowd that gathered after the healing of the cripple, “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders” (Acts 3.17). It didn’t look like ignorance. It looked like full-blooded, calculated rejection. Yet God was fulfilling his will for the salvation of all humankind – sinners all!

Exalted

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name...” (v. 9).

Christ Jesus had “emptied himself” – “made himself nothing”. He had laid aside his heavenly glory and prerogatives. He had “humbled himself” – obedient right up to his death on the cross. Now we have his exaltation. Paul doesn’t give a time-frame, but possibly at his ascension – forty days after the resurrection – risen, ascended and glorified.

“God exalted him to the highest place” – super-exalted him! He couldn’t be more exalted. Only God has the right to exalt him to the highest place. And that “highest place” includes all that he forewent in his self-emptying and self-humiliation. The Son of God had cried in desolation on the cross, “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27.46, from Psalm 22.1) and was now restored to fellowship, dignity and honour alongside the Father.

But of course there’s more to it! “It is finished!” (John 19.30) wasn’t admission of defeat, but an affirmation of “mission accomplished”. The Greek word translated “It is finished!” (tetelestai) was written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to indicate that a bill had been paid in full. Something has come to an end, has been completed and accomplished in full.

To expand the quote from Hebrews 4 – “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin” (vv. 14-15). So the “name above every name” (Philippians 2.9) is clearly the name of Jesus – who always had the very nature of God, made himself nothing, took the very nature of humanity, humbled himself, was obedient to the point of death on a cross, now exalted to the highest place...

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 10-11). Strikingly, these verses take up words directly from the Greek translation (LXX) of Isaiah 45.23 where God says, “To me every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to God”. That’s Yahweh speaking (LORD in four capitals). By New Testament times the divine name was no longer pronounced for fear of taking it in vain. They substituted the name Adonai, Lord. Written Hebrew was all consonants. A number of centuries AD, a group of scholars called the Massoretes devised a system of little symbols above and below the letters to indicate the vowels. Every time four letters for Yahweh appear in the text they added the vowels for Adonai – to remind them to say Adonai when they came to it in the text. If you try to pronounce this combination, it makes a very un-Hebrew word “Jehovah”. The incredible thing that is happening in Philippians 2 is that words applied in the Old Testament to Yahweh (Jehovah God) are applied to Jesus. “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14.6). As Peter said, “ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12). It is on that basis that Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name... Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16.23-24).

Human history is littered with the names of many people – religious leaders, generals, kings, emperors, philosophers, scientists... Some of them have graves that attract tourists, admirers, followers... Some are still alive with ambitious plans to rule the world – or perhaps even to save it.

Ultimately, there is only one who is truly and rightfully Lord – Jesus! – designated, not by ballot or opinion poll, but by God himself with the name that is far above every other human name.

I can’t remember what was on the news or who was on the horizon at the time in 1992, but I was driving from Buderim to Brisbane. I began singing these words over and over –

Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!

Ev’ry knee shall bow,

ev’ry tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord!

That’s it! Amid all the competing claims for our allegiance, there is only one true Saviour. No human action is going to “save the planet”. The root problem has nothing to do with global warming, cooling, climate change or whatever. It has to do with a human race that is out of relationship with our Maker. It has to do with human sin and our need for forgiveness and restoration.

Amid all the competing claims for our allegiance, there is only one true Lord – only one who is worthy of that title.

In the simple words of the song we sang with the children, is he “the Lord of me”? If so, then live it out and spread the word!