Text: Acts 3:1-21
A few years back I became the blessed recipient of this here Names of Jesus mug. It bolsters my faith; makes me feel very secure, indeed, confident and powerful when I have it with me. Nothing can stand against me when I am standing boldly with my Names of Jesus mug. It's loaded with the Names of Jesus - Bread of Life, Alpha and Omega, Immanuel, Messiah, Lamb of God, Saviour, Son of Man. With all those Jesus names this Names of Jesus mug is full of names of Jesus power. I’m going to testify, people. I was sitting on the subway the other day and this guy was giving me the evil eye, trying to curse me I know he was. I just lifted my Names of Jesus mug to him and gave him a nod like I was going to say, "Cheers" and be friendly, but instead I say, "Names of Jesus". Dude and his demons are off at the next stop. There’s power in the Names. Let me hear you say amen. One day I loaned my Names of Jesus mug to a homeless beggar. He wound up with enough money in one hour to start his own business. He got himself a squeegee and a squirt bottle. He's set for life now. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Give man a fishing pole, he's set for life. There's power in the Names of Jesus mug. Let me hear you say amen, people. The Names of Jesus mug, I think I'd better stop before I go too far with this.
But still let's just stop and think for a minute; a Names of Jesus mug? What have we come to here in Western Christianity that we can go to a gift shop and buy somebody a mug with the names of Jesus on it? I’m going to sidestep the whole thing about commercializing Jesus and post the positives. The mug is obviously a memory tool, a gift of assurance I might say. The names are to remind us who Jesus is and what he has done for not only us each but the whole of Creation. Jesus is the food of real life. He’s the one through whom all things were created and the one in whom all things will find their end or completion. He is God with us, God become man; the gentle one, the sacrificial Lamb who by his death has born our sin and its iniquity away. He is the mighty one born of the Jewish people who has, does, and will deliver us from all things that oppress us even death. This mug assures me of this.
This mug is also meant to be an opportunity to proclaim Jesus. That’s good to know, but for me my contact with people is overwhelming with other Christians. That being the case, I can get away with drinking from this mug publicly with little to no consequence. It’s not odd to see a minister in his church office or at home drinking coffee from a Names of Jesus mug. People just say, “Sunday School picnic prize nobody claimed, preacher got a free cup.” Or, “Poor guy, what else do people give ministers?” But what if my work was out there in the real world where I was in contact with mostly non-Christians? It is probable that drinking coffee from this mug in my work place would have its difficulties. I suspect it would mostly go unnoticed. Yet, there would be the odd person who would respect my courage and say so and the odd Christian who would think they had a guaranteed friend at work in me. There would also be the one or two who would make me and my Names of Jesus mug bear the brunt of many jokes. It is likely I wouldn’t be included in on the reindeer games because people would assume me to be highly moralistic, judgemental, and easily offended – characteristics of “good” Christians. My supervisor would likely tell me my mug is making others uncomfortable (even if it wasn't) and encourage me to bring another because the office isn’t the place for proselytizing. It's bad for business; might cause a missed sale.
The name of Jesus, is there more to it than just being a formulaic statement we tack on at the end of our prayers? I know I feel a considerable bit of weirdness if I don't end a public prayer saying "in Jesus name we pray." There are people who really believe our prayers won't get answered unless we superstitiously tack onto them the seemingly magic words "in Jesus' name". Well, looking at the New Testament it would not be an understatement to say that everything the church does is in and by means of the name of Jesus. Jesus sends us into the world in his name meaning with his authority and power. Therefore, we teach, baptize, heal, and cast out demons in his name as well as suffer for his name’s sake - which is the likely outcome of wielding a Names of Jesus mug at work.
In our passage from Acts Peter wants the crowd to know that it was by the name of Jesus not by their own power or piety that this man born lame was healed; Jesus whom they, the Jewish authorities and the crowds in conjunction with the Romans crucified, but their God, the God of their father’s Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob glorified and raised from the dead. Jesus’ name healed him – Jesus’ authority and power exercised by the disciples through faith, through prayer, at their command.
I don’t know the number of times I have read this account of Peter and John healing this man. It gets my attention in a way that’s difficult for me to say. This thing of Peter and John suddenly stopping on their way into the temple and staring intently at this lame beggar as if they knew something was up. That doesn’t happen to me and I don’t know people that it happens to. Its sounds like TV evangelist or Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship stuff (now Catch the Fire Ministries). This is just not my experience. Then, after getting the man to stare back at them, they say to him, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" They take him by the hand and start raising him up and his legs are strengthened. Never before had this man been able to stand and walk. Jesus restored him to perfect health. He could now work. People would now see him as blessed by God and utterly forgiven rather than cursed by God which his birth defect was evidence of. Back then that’s what people superstitiously believed. They were wrong. This sort of blatant display of the power of Jesus’ name just does not seem to be in our bag of tricks and I suspect it would shock us into silence if it happened here.
Nevertheless, Jesus is the Lord of the Kingdom of God and of all Creation and he has sent us into the world to be his proxy, to exercise his authority and power given to us through faith in his name. To quantify the type of power we’re talking about; since it is the name of Jesus the risen Son of God, the power we have proxy of is the power by which the Father raised Jesus from the dead through the Holy Spirit. It is a re-creative power, a renewing power, a delivering power, a healing power that brings glory and honour to Jesus, the Risen One.
Remember last week when I said that the primary business of the church is testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, here is where it gets real. But let’s remind ourselves again that it is not our own power or piety at work here. It is Jesus’ power and piety for he is alive and in our midst, indeed in us and we in him by the uniting work of the Holy Spirit.
Ministering in his name requires that we be in his name. "Being" precedes "doing". "In his name" is also a place. It has location, a sphere of reality. Let me use the analogy of coming in out of the cold into a heated room. Gathering together in Christian fellowship, he is present with us and there is something different about our fellowship that is different than other kinds of fellowship that is akin to coming out of the cold into a heated room. His name, what was called the Glory of God in the Old Testament, is with us and is experienced. He permeates our space. Similarly, the more time we spend throughout the day in prayer, in being aware of Jesus, of his presence is like being in the heated room getting warm with a warmth that stays with you out in the cold in such a way as others feel the warmth coming from you as well. In this sphere of reality we call "In his name" we experience our selves being filled with him and things begin to happen. Spending devoted time in the sphere of reality we call "In his name" results in our finding ourselves being healed of character defects and being filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; the fruits of the inward working of the Holy Spirit. The greatest testimony to the resurrection of Jesus that we each can give is what he has done in us. The super-fantastic nearly unbelievable things do happen in his name, but more importantly the power of Jesus’ name is at work in each of us making us to be more and more like him day by day. Keep coming to Christian fellowship, keep praying "in his name" and you will see. You will change. Your life will change. If this is not so, then Jesus is not raised and he is not Lord and we are the most pitiable among all peoples. Amen.
Ministering in his name requires that we be in his name. "Being" precedes "doing". "In his name" is also a place. It has location, a sphere of reality. Let me use the analogy of coming in out of the cold into a heated room. Gathering together in Christian fellowship, he is present with us and there is something different about our fellowship that is different than other kinds of fellowship that is akin to coming out of the cold into a heated room. His name, what was called the Glory of God in the Old Testament, is with us and is experienced. He permeates our space. Similarly, the more time we spend throughout the day in prayer, in being aware of Jesus, of his presence is like being in the heated room getting warm with a warmth that stays with you out in the cold in such a way as others feel the warmth coming from you as well. In this sphere of reality we call "In his name" we experience our selves being filled with him and things begin to happen. Spending devoted time in the sphere of reality we call "In his name" results in our finding ourselves being healed of character defects and being filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; the fruits of the inward working of the Holy Spirit. The greatest testimony to the resurrection of Jesus that we each can give is what he has done in us. The super-fantastic nearly unbelievable things do happen in his name, but more importantly the power of Jesus’ name is at work in each of us making us to be more and more like him day by day. Keep coming to Christian fellowship, keep praying "in his name" and you will see. You will change. Your life will change. If this is not so, then Jesus is not raised and he is not Lord and we are the most pitiable among all peoples. Amen.
