Names | Jesus - Philippians 2:5-11 | April 5

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Y'all didn't even need to know whether we were going on one or on go or whatever.

You got it. So let's say that name again together. Ready? Jesus.

Okay. So Deer Valley is closed. So nobody's going to like be upset by the name of Jesus this morning.

So really go for all you've got. You ready? Should I count us in on this one?

Three, two, one. That was amazing. We need Ron. We need you in our life more.

So there is power in the name of Jesus.

This isn't just an exercise where we say some character from history.

There is real tangible power in the name of Jesus.

The Bible tells us that there is no other name as great as that name.

That there is no other name that is above every other name than the name of Jesus.

That at the name of Jesus, demons flee.

That at the name of Jesus, the sick are healed. That at the name of Jesus, the lost are saved.

There is no other name than the name of Jesus. That all authority in heaven

and on earth falls under the mighty name of Jesus.

That there is power in this name. I'm going to trip over this thing.

So once more, well, not once more, we're going to say his name a lot.

But once more, three, two, one. Jesus!

Awesome. Keep that in mind as we read here. Sam's going to read Philippians

Philippians 2:5–11

chapter 2, verses 5 through 11 for us.

Okay, I don't think I need a mic. You must have the same attitude that Christ

Jesus had, though he was God.

He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a

slave, and he was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died

a criminal's death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name

above all other names that at the name of Jesus,

every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue

declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The word of the Lord.

Amen. Thank you. There is power in the name of Jesus.

As we think about the name of Jesus, so what we've been doing the last several

weeks is looking at the names of God, the different names of God,

how God chooses to identify himself. And we're continuing that this morning

as we look at the name of Jesus.

And what we have talked about is how through his names, God reveals something

about his identity. He reveals something about his character.

And they're not, most of them aren't names. In fact, they're just kind of like

titles or positions or descriptions. but he adopts them as names because what

he does is he actually fills them full of meaning.

So when we say that God is love, he calls himself love because it is the standard

by which we measure all love.

And so God takes these identities upon him in a sense.

And what we've been talking about is when you know who he is,

then you can know who you are.

When you get to know him through his names, you begin to know who he is as he

reveals his identity to us. And then we begin to know who we are through that.

And as Sam just read through Philippians, it begins that passage by saying,

have this same mind that is in Christ Jesus.

That Jesus was not in confusion about who he was when he was on this earth.

He's not in confusion about who he is today.

Jesus knew exactly who he is.

And because he knows who he is, then we can be sure to know that He is speaking

in truth and He's speaking in all the fullness of that it can be when He calls

us who we are, when He tells us who we are.

When He says who we are in Him, we can know that it's truth because Jesus knows who He was.

And he has this name we're going to keep going back to, this name that is above

every other name because he had a purpose that is above every other purpose.

And he holds a position that is above every other position.

There's never been another one like him. No one who lived like him.

No one who loved like him. No one who could do what he did.

No one who could possibly lay down their life for another.

Now, we can lay down our lives for each other, but not in the cosmic sense, right?

And not only did Jesus lay down his life for you and me, for people in general,

he didn't lay down his life for us because we were good enough to deserve it.

He laid down his life for all of us, even when we don't deserve it.

And especially given the fact that none of us deserve it.

No power, no position, no purpose greater than his. His name is above every other name.

He holds the world record for not staying dead and no one can surpass it.

That's who Jesus is. Power above every power.

It says in John chapter 10, Jesus said, no one takes my life from me,

John 10 · chapter mention

but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.

He has the power that is above every power because he has the power to not only

lay down his life to give it up freely, but he also has the power to take it back up again.

I don't know if you guys have grasped the impact of what that means.

Not just that death didn't take him, that he walked freely into it.

Not just that death couldn't hold him, that he walked out of it.

We talk about how you and I are dead in our sins and trespasses, right?

And it's not that we can't climb ourselves up to God. It's that we were dead

and dead people can't do anything.

This verse just tells us that Jesus, when he was dead, had the power to raise himself back up again.

We cannot even hope to do that. This is the power of Jesus.

So when we say that name, when we pray in the name of Jesus,

when we say the name of Jesus, when we sing in honor and praise of Jesus,

we are speaking the name of the one who has authority over life and death,

the one whose purpose cannot be stopped, and the one whose position is above every other.

Let's say his name together again. Ready?

I didn't even have to count for that one. You don't have to be so loud anymore, guys.

No, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And so here's the question for us this morning.

Last week, we talked about when you're alone, how do you worship? How do you relate to God?

How do you imagine God as you worship when you're by yourself?

Today, I want us all to kind of ask this question, who do you say that Jesus is?

And this is the question that Jesus asked his disciples, of course,

who do people say that I am? And they had all sorts of answers.

And he said, who do you say that I am?

And they said, or Peter stepped up and said, you are the Christ,

son of the living God, right?

Jesus said, blessed are you for flesh and blood did not reveal that to you.

Who do you say that Jesus is? And what do you call him?

What do you call him? Who will we say collectively that he is together?

Who will we choose to say that Jesus is?

Because what you call someone reveals something about how well you know them.

It reveals something about your relationship with them. So when my kids,

they call me dad, it reveals something about our relationship.

Some of you call me pastor. Josh calls me al pastor.

I don't know. I'm just a delicious cut of meat that didn't intend to be the way that it said.

Even though I don't want to be called pastor. Some of y'all still call me pastor. Um,

Wasn't that funny? Most of you just call me Zach because that's my name.

Or sometimes Zachary, if somebody's angry with me. Jenny has all sorts of names

with me, depending on what I've done to her that day.

She's pretty. Canaan calls me mom all the time.

And I'm like, I'm not mom. He's like, I spend more time with mom.

I'm like, do you call your teachers mom? No. I don't know.

What you call somebody reveals something about that relationship.

It reveals how well you know them, how close you are with them.

And before we get too far into that name and what it means, I just want to lay

a little bit of foundation, just real quick.

Jesus is not a myth. He's not an idea. He's not a religious symbol that we've created.

He's a real person in history.

He's a man who walked real roads, who spoke real words, who was executed under

the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

We have records of this outside of the Bible.

There's more written about the person of Jesus than the emperor of the Roman empire at that time.

We have so much historical evidence that there's practically no historian,

even who doesn't believe in Jesus as God, who doesn't admit that,

yes, he lived, he did these things, he was crucified in this way under Pontius Pilate.

Then something happened after that. Something changed.

We have these 12 guys, these 120 disciples who are all hiding away in rooms, afraid to go out.

His followers, these are ordinary people. They're not powerful.

They're not influential.

They didn't make the best of the best. They were just fishermen and tradesmen.

But then something shifted in them where they began to boldly declare that Jesus is alive.

They began to boldly say that he is God, that he is Lord, that he is risen.

That was your opportunity to say he's risen indeed, but sorry.

And they didn't just hold fast to this belief, this conviction,

this proclamation, this declaration when it was easy and they were favored.

All of them but one died horrible deaths, holding firm to what they believed.

And not just what they believed, but what they knew to be true and what they had seen.

That Jesus was alive.

Now, 2000 years later, or however many years later, his name has outlasted every empire.

His name has outlasted every king. It has shaped the course of human history.

His name is just as powerful today as it was back then.

And if Jesus is really who he claimed to be, and he really did all this stuff

that I believe that he did, and I'm telling you that he did,

then knowing who he is and what you call him is perhaps the most important question of your life.

We throw his name around all the time. People use it casually.

No other deity, I think, is used as an expletive except for the name of Jesus,

which is a weird, weird turn of phrase there.

It's not so weird when you think about how can the devil minimized the effects

of the powerful name of Jesus.

The scripture gives us such weighty language, such heavy language to understand

him by. He says that Jesus is Lord.

We just read that in Philippians chapter 2. Sam read that, that every tongue

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

confesses that Jesus is Christ, is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is Lord. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it says, no one can say Jesus is

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

That's how powerful it is, is that even uttering Jesus is Lord as a phrase requires

the something of the Spirit in you to acknowledge the truth of that.

Acts chapter 2, it says that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

John 20 and Thomas finally believed and didn't doubt, that's another thing is,

as we know that some of these guys didn't just believe, there was a journey

that brought them to belief after Jesus's death.

And Thomas finally confesses my Lord and my God.

Jesus is Lord is perhaps the most offensive phrase that they could have uttered

at that time. It was offensive to the Romans.

The Romans believed that Caesar was a God. In fact, only Caesar was Lord.

And so to say Jesus is Lord was political heresy or whatever you might call it, insurrection.

It was offensive to the Jews to say that Jesus is Lord, because what they're

saying is not just master.

They're saying he is Yehovah.

He is Yahweh. Jesus is God. Jesus is Lord. And they said this so often.

If you read the book of Acts, it's funny.

Peter, especially, but Stephen as well, they give a couple of these kind of long sermons, right?

And they just won't stop saying that the Jews killed Jesus.

It's like, bring it up over and over again. You're like, guys,

come on, Like maybe they would respond if you stop saying this.

Over and over again, they held firm to this confession that Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is Yehovah.

Jesus is Lord. He is God.

And for us, if Jesus is Lord, if he is Lord, then it demands all of our lives.

It is still just as powerful today.

If he's not, then go and do whatever you want. But if Jesus is Lord,

then it demands all of us. So who do you say that he is?

I don't know what that was. Now we got a buzz.

Let me just tell you who he is real quick. The Bible says he is king.

Revelation 19 calls him king of kings and Lord of lords.

Psalm 2 says, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

So Jesus doesn't become king. He's not king when you bow just because you say that he's king.

Jesus is king whether you believe it or not, whether you bow or not.

He is savior. Luke 19 says, the son of man came to seek and save the lost.

The Bible is one unified story from start to finish.

It is the greatest love and rescue story of all time.

It is all about a God who pursues his people, even though they continue to turn

and run away from and he provides a way, a rescue plan it is the greatest rescue mission of all time,

as I mentioned earlier, we are not drowning and there is a life preserver nearby.

We are dead and he makes you alive.

He is judge, which means evil will not win.

Acts 17 says that he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world and righteousness

by a man whom he has appointed by Jesus.

In 2 Corinthians 5, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

Every injustice in this world is answered.

Nobody else has a solution.

All other people who don't believe in Jesus have no solution for the evil in this world.

It's unfortunate, but that's all it is. Every hidden thing is revealed.

Think about how that affects the way that you pray, the way that you confess.

You're not telling God something new that he doesn't already know.

Every wrong is made right. And this is either terrifying news for you,

or it is the most incredible hope-filled thing that you've ever heard.

That Jesus is judge. That he's the light of the world, which means darkness

doesn't get the final word.

John chapter 8, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk

John 8 · chapter mention

in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John chapter 1, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1 · chapter mention

Darkness doesn't fight against light. When light enters the room, darkness flees.

It disappears when light shows

up. And so does your sin. So does your shame. So does your confusion.

They don't stand a chance where he is.

You don't have to clean yourself up in the dark to come to God.

You come into the light and he changes who you are and what you care about. He is the living water.

You drink from him and you will never be thirsty again. John chapter 7,

John 7 · chapter mention

if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

John chapter 4, whoever drinks of this water that I will give him will never

John 4 · chapter mention

be thirsty again. And everyone.

Every well, every other well in this world that we try to drink from runs dry.

Success, relationships, achievement, pleasure. You keep coming back time and

time again, still thirsty.

But Jesus says, come to me. I satisfy completely.

He also says he's the bread of life. He doesn't just give you this second chance,

but he satisfies your soul.

He nourishes your soul. John chapter 6, I am the bread of life.

John 6 · chapter mention

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

It continues that idea of satisfaction, of being filled, that he is life,

that he is sustenance, that you don't just add Jesus to your life.

Whatever you're doing, whoever you are, you don't just add Jesus.

This is what people have tried to do for centuries.

This is what really annoyed the Romans.

This is what really annoys other empires and cultures that are just like,

just, yeah, come on, add Jesus to the pantheon.

Add Jesus to one of the gods.

You can't just add Jesus to your life. You build your life from him.

You build your life on him.

It says he's the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Power, authority, victory. Revelation chapter five, behold, the lion of the

tribe of Judah has conquered.

This is strength. This is authority that crushes evil.

This is victory already won. There is no enemy equal to him.

No one even stands a chance.

He's the lamb of God who was slain. Humility, sacrifice, love.

Isaiah 53, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, it says Jesus.

John chapter 1, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,

John 1 · chapter mention

which the kids already read this morning.

The lion conquers, but the lamb was slain. The lamb was killed.

He laid his life down for you.

The one with all power, all authority chose on the cross to lay his life down

for you, which means that your salvation, this rescue story is not rooted in any form of obligation.

Jesus wasn't forced into it. He wasn't coerced by it. He laid it down willingly.

In other words, he didn't have to, but still he chose the cross.

This is who Jesus is. You don't get to pick which version of him you like most.

You don't get to call him by whatever name you want to. That's not how this works.

But the question is still the same. Who do you say that he is?

Because who you say he is changes the way you relate to him.

And if this is who he is to you, then it doesn't just deserve your attention, it deserves your life.

So what is his name? What do you call him?

There are many, many more names that I haven't mentioned.

The second Adam, Advocate, Anointed, Author, Amen, Alpha, Ancient of Days.

Begotten, Beloved, Branch, Bread, Bridegroom, Bright and Morning Star,

Captain, Consolation, Cornerstone, Counselor, Covenant,

Chosen of God, Christ Deliverer, Door, Dear Desire of Every Nation Elect,

Everlasting Father, Emmanuel, Father of Our Faith Firstfruits, Faithful Witness,

Fountain of Life God, Gift of God Guide, Governor, Our Glorious Lord Help,

Hope, Horn of Salvation healer, head of the church, heir of all things,

high priest, the Holy One.

I am immortal, invisible, Lion of Judah, just.

He is Jesus. And we are just to the letter J.

And I didn't even say all of them for the other letters.

From the moment he humbled himself and entered into the world, it was clear.

From the moment that the angel spoke to Mary and said, in Matthew chapter 1,

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Jesus comes from the Greek Isus. The original Hebrew is our name, Joshua.

It's the same name. It's the same name, the prophet Hosea. It's the same name.

The name Jesus means Yahweh is salvation.

Yehovah is salvation. The wonderful name tells you about his wonderful purpose,

about his credible mission, what he came to do.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, that I pass on to you what is of most importance,

that Jesus died and that Jesus lives again,

that he was resurrected, that this is everything.

This is everything. How do you know him? There's this moment in the book of

Luke, I think, where Jesus is brought to the temple.

And Simeon is this very devout and religious man who God had revealed to him

that he would meet the Messiah before he died.

And so he's holding this baby Jesus and he sings this song, thankful and glorious

that God had given him such a blessing that he gets to look at the face of the Messiah.

So he holds the baby Jesus and he says, my eyes have seen your salvation.

He doesn't say that his eyes have seen the bringer of salvation.

He doesn't say that his eyes have seen the teacher of salvation.

He looks at this baby or two-year-old, however old he was, and he said, I have seen salvation.

That salvation is a person.

He is salvation. Salvation is not just something that we receive.

It is a person that you know. It's not just merely a collection of experiences,

but an intimate, transformative encounter between you and the divine.

As we come to a bit of an end, I want to tell you my mission today is whatever

you think about Jesus, however long you've been a Christian,

if you're not a Christian, if you haven't believed, wherever you're at,

I want you to encounter the Jesus who is better than you ever thought.

So as you ask that question, who do I call Jesus?

I want your answer this morning to be whatever pieces you've picked up,

that he is better than you could imagine.

There's that question that people have asked for years. You've probably been

asked it. If you grew up in the church, you probably asked it at a youth camp

and a really awkward moment.

And somebody's laying it down thick and there's emotional stuff going on.

And they asked this question, right? if you died tonight, where would you go?

Nobody's ever experienced a emotional badgering into Christianity.

It's an important question. If we were to die right now, what would happen to us?

And not just the spiritual answer. We know the spiritual answer or the answer

we should say, but what's underneath that answer.

If we were to stand before God at the gates of heaven, I know that's not how

it works, but if we were to stand before God at the gates of heaven and he asked

us, why should I let you in? What would we say?

If your answer starts in the first person, you've already got it wrong.

If it is because I believed, because I had faith, because I tried,

because I endured, because I, you've already got it wrong.

The only right answers are in the third person. Because he, because Jesus saved

me, because Jesus died, because Jesus lives and conquers death and sin, because Jesus.

This, some of y'all are like, yes, I believe that. This is better than you know.

This is better than what you're thinking right now. I promise you that.

When Jesus was crucified, there was this man, there's two men that were crucified

with him, right? And they kind of both make fun of him.

And then at some point, the one man has a change of heart and chastises the

other dude for making fun of him, right? And he's like, don't you know who this is?

And Jesus says to him, right? Today you will be with me in paradise.

He had no resume. He had no history of faithfulness, no church attendance.

He might not have even been a Jew. We know nothing about this guy.

No good works that he could have pointed to. He was on a cross because he was

a criminal and somehow he makes it.

Imagine that conversation in heaven. This guy shows up, you know,

Jesus is still doing his thing.

This guy walks into heaven and the angels are like, what are you doing here? He's like, I don't know.

They're like, what do you mean you don't know? What are you doing here?

Maybe they asked him, on what basis are you here?

And the guy's like, look, all I know is that guy who was hanging next to me,

that guy that they called Jesus, he said I could be here.

That's the powerful truth of what that is. He's there because Jesus said he could come.

The only reason any of us are here. Not because we earned it.

Not because we figured it out. Not because we were born in the right country

to the right family. Not because we grew up in church.

We're here because Jesus said we could come.

Ephesians 2 says, for by grace, you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.

We have a few more minutes. I want to go down a rabbit hole for a second.

Jesus tells another story. He tells the story of a wedding feast.

And he tells a story that this man is celebrating his son's wedding,

and he sends out the invitations.

They invite all their family, all their friends, all the well-known people.

And the day of the wedding, he says, come, come and celebrate with me.

And they're like, too busy. They want to go work in their field.

They want to go try out their new ox.

One of them, strangely enough, I hadn't noticed until I read it through recently.

One of them beats up and kills the guy who comes and invites him.

How weird and random is that?

So King sends out all these invitations and the people don't come.

They treat the invitation as if it was nothing at all.

The tragedy that we see is not just that they rejected it.

It's that they missed out on the celebration. They missed out on the wedding.

So the king tells his servants to go out, invite everybody else,

everybody that's in the streets, everybody that didn't receive an invitation,

all the outsiders, all the ones who weren't expecting it, all the people who

didn't earn it, all the people who they didn't even know, and to bring them into this feast.

And the room fills up and it doesn't fill up with those who are impressive.

It doesn't fill up with those who you expected to be there, it fills up with

those who were lucky enough to receive the call.

Why are they there? They didn't earn it. They didn't clean themselves up.

They didn't deserve to be in that room.

They were there for one reason. The king said they could come.

Are you invited to the kingdom? Why do you have a seat at the table?

Why do you get to be a part of the celebration that never ends?

Not because of anything you've done. Not because you figured it out.

Because Jesus said you could come.

What a celebration it will be. What a celebration it will be.

Worship without distraction, joy without limit. It says no more sin,

no more death, no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering.

Just the presence of Jesus and the people that were lucky enough to be invited,

which is everybody, which is you.

So again, I ask you, who do you say that he is?

Because if he is Lord, this is not just an idea to ponder and consider.

This is the invitation to receive the open door for everyone, no matter what.

Let's say that name again. Ready?

Maybe I'll count again. It's been a while. Three, two, one.

One day, every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

You don't get to choose that. It's going to happen one way or another.

One day, every knee will bow.

He has the name above every name because he has the power above every other power.

And as we started out this morning in Romans chapter 8, it says,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal

bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

The same power that rolled the stone away, the same power that defeated death,

the same power that raised Jesus from the grave.

This is not just so that one day you will get to sit at a feast and celebrate.

This is that right now, right now, you get to be raised to new life.

So many of us, especially if we've been a Christian for a long time,

we have stopped at forgiveness.

Our story has ended at forgiveness, that Jesus forgave me and that's it, which is incredible.

I don't want to diminish the power behind that reality.

Didn't just come to forgive you. He came to raise you up.

Not someday in the future, but right now.

To bring you out of death to life. To bring you out of sin.

From under sin's power into his kingdom. To give you a new heart.

To actually transform you from the inside out right now.

Because his name is above every other name. Above every sin that is holding

you back. above every addiction, above every fear, above every label that you've

ever believed about yourself.

Remember, there's two things about identity. One is that identity is given.

A lot of us have held on to identities that we don't deserve.

And we've held on to identities from our past that we should have let go a long time ago.

Identity is given. God gives you your identity.

The other is that mankind is not the ultimate validator of who you are. Jesus is.

He has a name that is above every other name. There's no power greater than

his, no name that is higher.

He is able not just to save you someday, but to change you today.

So I'll ask you again, who do you call him? And whatever your answer is will change everything.

So one last time, can we say the name Jesus together? Jesus.