Many times sermons are stimulated by a penetrating questions which parishioners ask their minister. The sermon this morning is really the answer to a question our young people ask Sunday night.
We were discussing the questions: What does it mean for a Christian to go out into the world? Does God hears someone who prays to him through idols? Surely he knows that they’re really trying to get through to him. Surely, you will not let the idol get into his way in hearing them? This lead to other questions: Why get all excited over the mission of the church? Does not each culture have its own religion? Are these religions not adequate for their culture? Sometime ago a young person returning from Asia ask: Why disturb the happy people of the world by sending missionaries?
Some years ago to Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick came back from a trip through Asia. He said: “I never realized before the incalculable difference that the influence of Jesus has made on Western life.” He went on to say: “There may be some of you who are not Christians. I propose you this a simple test: go to the where the gospel of Jesus Christ has not come. See if you can find one spot on the planet outside the range of the influence of Jesus where you would be willing to settle down and make your home and rear children. See if the spire of the Christian church does not look good to you when you come back. See if you can say that there is not something however difficult to locate and define which has happened to the hearts of men. Their ideals and their purpose, their capacity and spiritual power for the influence of Jesus has come. Jesus Christ stood in the world supremely alone.”
Our text comes from a very interesting setting in the book of acts. Peter and John were instrumental in bringing healing to a crippled beggar on the Temple steps of Jerusalem. Soon the jealous high priest had them arrested, and one of the first questions he asks them was this: “By what power did you heal this man?” The answer was simple and straightforward. “It was by the name of Jesus of Nazareth who you crucified and God raised up from the dead. There is salvation in no one else at all. For there is no other name under heaven granted to men by which we may receive salvation.”
Once I learned personally the power of a name. When I landed in Hastings College I felt the call of god to the ministry and to that place. I had $15 in my pocket. I found myself in the office of Prof. J. W. Creighton. He was anything but cordial. Then I told him that Dr. George S. McCune had sent me to Hastings, and he said he would personally guarantee my tuition. His face lit up. He reached his hand across the desk and grabbed my hand. “That’s good enough for me!” They had been missionaries together. They knew, trusted, and loved each other. The name and trustworthiness of George S. McCune got me into Hastings College.
There is power in the name of Jesus. Our text says, “There is no salvation in anyone else at all, for there is no other name under heaven granted to men whereby we may receive salvation.” Take your concordance sometime and see how important the name of Jesus was in the early church. You will find that by his name and the power of his name the lame man was made to walk. A dead man was raised up. Men were baptized by his name. Men were transformed by the power is name. Man suffered for that name. Demons were cast out by his name. And the disciples were dynamically changed into living firebrand by this encounter with one named Jesus.
Last week we talked about the Hebrew naming ceremony. The name gave identity and had a meaning that represented what people thought of the person. If you ever look carefully at the name given to the man of Galilee, there are two wonderful names, one given him at his birth and one ascribed to him by angels. By the way, there was never a birth story like his.
When the romance goes out of life we might as well die. God is romantic too. He send his son heralded by angels and heard about first by shepherds. The wise men of the world bow to him. The wicked in the world are threatened by him. There is music and singing. Light and joy dispelling poverty, darkness and despair of the world. It is a story that still kindles the imagination, even of little children. I remember one Christmas Eve as a boy with the old cutter, our horse Pete, and I saw a shooting star on Christmas Eve. It was as though I was there. His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us.
After three years with him, his disciples felt they were with God. Familiarity so often breeds contempt. But familiarity with him creates and breeds adoration. Admiration and worship. You know me after 19 years and know all my weaknesses. The more you know him to greater he becomes his still Emmanuel, God with us. When I think of the love of God I think of the cross and so do you. I think every tired teacher blessing little children Long into the night. I realize the good Shepherd. All that I really know about God, I know through Jesus Christ. His name shall be called “Jesus”. For he shall save the people from their sins. Jesus, Joshua, God saves. How does god save men? Salvation from a cross, there he stands between earth and heaven, and the outstretched hands of the man of the cross are the outstretched hands of God. We come and are forgiven and made whole.
— Arthur Schwabe
Reverend Arthur Schwabe Blog 