Transcript for JESUS: OUR BROTHER, OUR SAVIOR (Captioned)

... Recorded for us

in the Second Chapter,

where we read from Verse 21:

ON THE EIGHTH DAY WHEN IT WAS TIME TO CIRCUMCISE HIM,

HE WAS GIVEN THE NAME JESUS, THE NAME THE ANGEL HAD GIVEN

HIM, BEFORE HE HAD BEEN

CONCEIVED. This is the Word of our Lord; Let us pray:

This is the day

that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and

be glad in it. Amen.

Pastor Dave motions

for the congregation

to be seated.

Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

We've all been in that predicament

when someone comes running up to us,

talking to us, they're glad to see us

and we are standing there with our minds racing

because their face looks familiar and

we don't have a clue

as to who they are! And then we try

that game that we think is not going to fool them ...

where we just kind of feel out where they're from, and

why they would be talking to us this way and

when we get on the other side of that, we see right

through that. We can tell by the look on

the person's face, that

they do not have a clue what your name is.

(Pause)

And then you feel horrible if you blurt out the wrong name.

Because we're all very attached

to that name that is ours.

That name that defines us.

It may not be our favorite name ... may not be one of

those that is picked as "the best of the decade".

You know Sarah got knocked out in the Number 1 spot

in the last 10 years.

But Jacob, for boys' names, still is the top one.

And we may not have those names. We may have names

that carry our family heritage with them. We may

have names that were given us

because of someone special that our parents knew.

And maybe we didn't receive names because of

other people our parents knew.

So they stayed away from them.

But our names are important to us. We want

people to remember them. We want people to use them.

We don't want people to abuse them,

turn them into nicknames or shorten them,

or lengthen them. And we see the same thing is so true of

our Lord and Savior's name. Because just think

how many times each day

you hear ...

the Name of your Lord.

Probably not in the best context ...

or the way that you would not choose to use that name,

but it's out there everywhere!

We remind ourselves that, we as the children of God,

treasure that name ...

just as Mary treasured that name, and Luke reminds us

in fulfillment of the Law, on the day that Jesus

went to be circumcised, He was

given the name Jesus. It was a name that

Mary and Joseph didn't have to struggle over

or wonder about who or what they should call Him.

The angel Gabriel

had given that name to Mary

and reminded them that His purpose in life

was to come as the Savior.

The One who had been promised by God.

The One who was there to fulfill the Law.

And we see that we have read those passages

familiar to us again throughout

the Advent and Christmas season. The angel came to Mary

at a time when she must have just been TERRIFIED

with this prospect

of the news. But yet, in faith,

she believed what the Lord had said.

She trusted in Him.

Joseph also believed what God had told him through the

angel and trusted what God had said,

because they were the instruments that God

was using in the fulfillment

of the promises that began to Adam and Eve.

That the seed ... One of his seed,

would be the One who would bring

blessing to all people. Who would save them

from the sin that Adam and Eve had brought

into the world. And the thing that they would infect

their children with and their grandchildren would be

infected with ... down to each and every person born

into this world.

They're born in sin. Inherited from their parents.

And so important it is for us to hear

the name JESUS,

because He IS the Savior.

The One who saves ... and that comes back

to us time and time again. Think of our use of it

already even in our worship this morning.

That we have heard the Name of God's Son

placed upon us as we began this service.

That we have turned to Christ

for the forgiveness of our sins.

That we have called on Jesus knowing that

we ARE sinners and HE IS our only Hope. We have

HEARD HIS words of forgiveness

spoken by me, His called servant.

What a wonderful reminder that is to us

that He has cleansed us

from our sins. Because that was the work

that God had called Him to do. That was how God

had prepared the world to receive Him.

Speaking through the prophets, speaking through David.

That there would be one of his descendents that

would rule on His throne forever.

And Jesus now sits at that throne having

accomplished and fulfilled ALL of the Law of God.

Carried out God's plan of salvation.

As the Apostle reminded us in the Letter to the Romans,

it was by His resurrection,

that He has been proven to be the Son of God.

And that He now sits at the right hand of God

having placed everything under His feet.

He is our Ruler, our Supreme God and Authority.

Because He saved us ...

to be ...

His own.

And He did that in fulfillment of the Law.

And how important it was, that God had chosen Mary,

to be His mother,

and Joseph, to be His step-father

to fulfill the requirements that God had set.

Because they were righteous people ...

they were believers ... they carried out

the worship that God had set out for them. Jesus

Himself, at 8 days old, was not going to arrange

His own circumcision.

But yet, Mary and Joseph did what the Law required.

The fulfillment of God and

fulfillment of all that God had asked of them.

We know that they continued to instruct Him.

They continued to go to the temple and

bring Him with them,

so that they could worship together there as a family.

That He was instructed with them with what God desired.

And we're reminded of the importance of our own

instruction ... teaching others

of the Name of Jesus. Beginning in our homes.

Beginning with our families. Beginning with our children.

Sharing and reminding them of what God has done and

what God wants from them and

expects of them. That they have a Savior

because THEY CANNONT KEEP THE LAW.

But that doesn't mean that we take those 10 Commandments and

just throw them out, and say that they don't apply.

They certainly teach and instruct us how God wants us

to live daily.

To give glory to Him. To praise that Holy Name.

To show our thanks for all that Jesus has done.

And we point our children to those Commandments and say:

This is what God wants from you.

First and foremost, to put Him as the Ruler and

Lord of your life.

And secondly, to treasure that Name

that is His. That Holy,

precious Name.

And I think we, as Christians, have to admit, THAT IS

a HUGE battleground for us.

Because how many of us even as adults,

have given up defending that Name

from the people that we've come in contact with?

And it always surprises me,

the reaction, that Christians have

to Muslims ...

who don't want anyone misusing that name of Allah.

And yet ...

it's their god and they will defend it

to the end.

And we, as Christians, let people around us

take the Name of God and drag It down

into hell itself.

It's a reminder to us

that that's the Name of our Savior.

That's the ONLY Name by which people

will be saved. That is the ONLY PATH

that is open to eternal life.

It has been GIVEN to us.

It has been REVEALED to us. And that's why

it's so precious to us. Because Jesus

fulfilled the Law that we couldn't fulfill.

We couldn't save ourselves. Yet,

He willingly gave His life.

We can't raise ourselves from the dead. We can't even

raise our loved ones that we wish we could,

who are no longer here.

But Jesus raised from the dead, by the Power

of God in His strength.

He has ascended to heaven and He is our Lord.

He IS our Savior.

And we teach that. We express that in EVERYTHING we do

in our life. It is what brings us joy.

It is what brings us comfort.

When we leave this building today ...

that Name of the Lord that was spoken of,

in our Old Testament Lesson gets placed on us.

The Covenant God, the Savior God.

whose Face now turns to us and shines on us.

No longer turns to us with

angry eyes of destruction.

But with eyes of love.

He gives us His peace. It's placed upon us.

It covers over us. It IS

the sweetness of our life.

That Name Jesus means: He saves.

May we give all glory to God

for fulfilling His Law.

For keeping His Word.

For sending to us, the thing that we needed

first and foremost. A Savior,

who is Christ, the LORD.

Amen.

Now may the

peace of God which goes beyond all of our understanding,

keep your hearts and your minds, and especially your lives,

in the one true faith unto life everlasting.

Amen.