May 17, 2015
Fr. Phil Eberhart
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Well, you can tell by looking that I'm a different guy from the one printed in the bulletin. Fred, texted me yesterday to let me know that his elderly mother had been taken to the ER in Colorado Springs and was in decline. He asked to be released from this commitment to speak, which I reluctantly, and sadly gave. At some later date you will hear this extraordinary man share about the great things that the Name of Jesus is accomplishing around the world. But for today, you are stuck with me!
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As you know we are embedded today in the midst of the 10DaysTogether events and prayer times, and I want to say how grateful I am for your support and for your presence along the way. So many from here have been a part of the evenings and especially, the mornings and noonday prayers and communion we have been having. I am frankly blown away by you people!
I saw that our gospel was from John 17 this morning and I had to chuckle a bit, because that chapter is really the linchpin of all that we are doing - it is both the challenge of Jesus and the Prayer of Jesus for his church that has captured our hearts - to live in Oneness with each other in the same way as the Father and the Son are one! How impossible! Indeed!
It cannot be done apart from HIM - as Jonathan Friz said when he spoke here just 3 weeks ago now, the prayer is audacious and impossible - it doesn't take into account any of our humanity, our foibles, our selfish natures - even our preferences, which we hold so dear. It is just a bald-faced ... TRUTH! We cannot get to the answer to Jesus prayer ... WITHOUT HIM!
There is NO doing this in our own strength. There is NO power in sentimentality, or in sticky-sweet human effort
to be NICE to one another. NO! We have to fall helpless at the feet of Jesus, begging for His mercy - made new every morning - to accomplish what He has prayed we will accomplish IN HIS NAME.
And that is where I want to go this morning, because our reading this morning stops short of the prayer for unity that Jonathan was talking about a few weeks back, where we love to read and love to camp. This reading this morning, however, give us the key to the door we must walk through to be the fulfillment of Jesus High Priestly Prayer for the oneness of His Church.
Look with me back at the reading of the Gospel for just a moment:
Just from the middle of the reading:
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Listen to the phrasing:
Protect them in YOUR NAME; I Protected them IN YOUR NAME
and
SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE ARE ONE.
Friends, here is the key to answering the prayer of Jesus Christ!
The protection that we have is the power of the Holy Spirit, but the place of protection is IN THE NAME: JESUS!
Not just any name, but THE NAME - the NAME given by the Father to the Son; the NAME, by which we must be saved;
the NAME, except through which NO ONE comes to the Father!
Remember the old song?
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus !! There's just something about that Name!
Master ... Saviour ... Jesus! Like the fragrance after the rain!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus !! Let all heaven and earth proclaim ...
Kings and kingdoms may all pass away ...
But there's something about that Name!"
What is it about that Name? What is the power ... in the Name of Jesus ... that breaks every chain, breaks every chain, breaks every chain?
Friends, that NAME is our refuge, The Name of Jesus is a strong tower to keep us safe. It is a refuge in the time of trial.
when trouble come, and it will, the Name of Jesus is our comfort, it is our stonghold, it is the inner court - the utmost -
the inner most place - inside the curtain.
This is how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, from Hebrews 6:18-20
"We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek."
Now listen again to the phrasing from our reading:
Protect them in YOUR NAME; I Protected them IN YOUR NAME
and
SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE ARE ONE.
It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA)
that we have protection from the world, the flesh and the devil!
It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA)
that we are set free from sin and death, and given a new eternal life - IN HIM.
It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA)
that we exchange our sin for His righteousness - the great exchange!
It is in the NAME JESUS (YESHUA)
that we find our rest - from which we work!
The list can go on and on and on - we would be here all day and into the night and tomorrow!
The riches that are found IN THE NAME OF JESUS - HE is the treasure, hidden in the field! HE is the treasure where your heart is, and all else follows! HE is the NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME, at which NAME every knee will bow and every tongue confess!
We must bow now or we WILL bow later! We must confess HIS NAME, as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS ... NOW ... or we WILL confess later!!
THIS NAME is where our unity is found... it is where our ONENESS is found which Jesus prayed for in the later verses of this High Priestly prayer.
Friends, the bible is crazy about names from the time God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush as the I AM to the many times that JESUS used the same words as a description of himself and of his character. Paul was knocked off his horse by the revelation of Jesus, literally! So bright was it that Paul was blinded, that he might come to true sight.
NO WAY can I cover this topic in the 20 or so minutes I'm allotted here this morning. YOU MUST GO and look this up. Many of you have electronic versions of the bible on your phones or ipads or computers. Start typing!
search IN HIS NAME; just NAME has 200+ instances in the NT - but get specific. search NAME OF JESUS ... and see for yourself what that NAME carries for you. Allow the Spirit to knock you off your horse!
Lord may your revelation be so bright that we will have to shield our eyes. May your revelation - the revelation of YOUR NAME< JESUS - YESHUA, cause us to be filled with hope and joy and wonder and awe. Come, Lord Jesus Christ and fill your church with the GLORY OF YOUR NAME!
It is in the GLORY of the NAME OF JESUS, that our UNITY - our ONENESS is found? Why? Because we are IN HIM and when we are all IN HIM we are all ONE, because we are IN HIM - TOGETHER!
What I'm discovering in the 10DaysTogether is that there is NO MAGIC in all this! There is no magical formula for Unity, for oneness in the LORD - in HIS NAME ! It's not mystical, its not mysterious, it not magic. When I was installed as the Rector of this church, way back in 1997, the preacher was Canon Burt Womack, and the message he brought was pretty plain and simple. My friend, he said to me, 90% of the work is done, when you show up!
Friends, the magic happens when we come together - there's the word: Together- Together- Together. Shall I repeat myself?
T O G E T H E R ! The disciples were ALL TOGETHER, in ONE PLACE, and in ONE ACCORD when the Day of Pentecost came, but I assure you, they would not have been any of the later if they had not obeyed the Lord Jesus on Ascension Day, and stayed TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE for the 10 Days. There is something about being together. There is something about the touch and feel of friends, at meals together, in worship together, living a life together, loving one another, as HE LOVES US.
Jesus other name was what: EMMANUEL - GOD WITH US! Did you hear that? WITH us. Jesus knew the value of TOGETHER. There was no redemption possible without him interrupting his heavenly life and coming among us - making his dwelling among us - tabernacleling WITH US. Likewise we are to be WITH one another and WITH the world we live in, as we are His hands and feet, His eyes and ears and mouth. The WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US. The secret of Unity and oneness is IN HIM - IN HIS NAME - but it is NOT rocket science! To be a partaker of His body and His blood, you have to present - in attendance in the flesh - eyeball to eyeball- cheek to cheek - hand to hand and heart to heart.
So the invitation is sent - the welcome mat is out. Will you come? TOGETHER!
ALL TOGETHER - ONE PLACE - ONE ACCORD
What a Pentecost awaits us, if we are ... willing, available and obedient!
Amen and Amen
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