He Knows Our Name...But Do We Proclaim His? - Isaiah 43:1-3a, Luke 12:4-12
Do you know how many hairs are on your head? How about your spouse’s head? Your child’s head? Your grandchild’s head? I’ll be the first to say, I have no
idea. Imagine how much you would love
someone and how well you would truly know them, to know how many hairs are on
that person’s head! Our Scripture
reading from Luke this morning tells us that is exactly how much God loves
us…that is exactly how intimate God’s knowledge is of each of us. Now mind you, for some of us, that knowledge
that God has is a pretty difficult task…for others…not so hard. Of course, I have been told that God only
made a few perfect heads, and on all the rest he put hair.
For God to know the number of hairs on our head…that’s almost
unimaginable. We are not used to people
knowing us that completely (though the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and other
social media where many people offer what could be considered way too much
information). We are more used to
business, organizations, and the government treating us like mere numbers…our
bank accounts, our credit card numbers, or our social security number. We are used to people not really knowing
us…but God knowing the number of hairs on our head offers to us that God’s
knowledge of us, and concern for us, is far different from what we are used to
experiencing.
Isaiah says that God calls us by name. God knows our name. For someone to know our name is
significant. It means something to us
for someone to know who we are. There
are a couple of ways knowing our name is significant to us. What someone calls us often times reveals to
us the level of their interest in us. If
someone says to me “Hey you,” because they have never met me before, or maybe I
have seen them once at some social gathering, I pretty much know that I are not
very close to them. For someone to call
me Mr. Pittard or Reverend Pittard, I know that the relationship between us is either
business or pretty formal. Those that
call me “Lee Roy” tell me that they knew me well during my high school and
undergraduate years. Those that call me
“Lee” have either known me my whole life, or since I graduated from
Methodist. Those who call me “Pastor
Lee” are folks I have encountered in the church and known long enough to try to
get them to call me “Lee” and when they refused, we settled on “Pastor
Lee.” If someone calls me “Sweetie” (and
means it—not because they are my waitress and want a generous tip), I know that
it is my wife who knows me better than anyone else.
There is even more significance to what Isaiah is saying when he
relays God’s words to us saying, “I have called you by name, you are
mine.” In Biblical times to know and use
someone’s name was to truly know who they were.
A person’s name represented their complete nature, their very being. For God to say, “I have called you by name,
you are mine,” is for God to say,” I know your very essence, your very being, I
know who you truly are…others may have a superficial knowledge of you, but I
really and truly know who you are. I
know what makes you tick; I know what you really think; I know what scares you
and what soothes you; I know your real reason for doing things or not doing
them; I know your name.”
That intimate knowledge of us by God should not really surprise
us…for God played a vital role in creating us.
The Psalmist reminds us in his prayer to God: “For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very
well. My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the
earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed
substance. In your book were written all
the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”[i]
So God knows us more than we even know ourselves, what is the
significance? What are Isaiah and Luke
trying to tell us in saying that God knows our name and knows the number of
hairs on our head? Both are trying to
reassure God’s people that God is looking out for them.
Isaiah writes, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with
you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk
through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume
you.” Isaiah is writing to God’s people
that have been in exile. The people had
been scattered abroad with one empire after another traipsing their way through
Judah and the surrounding area and taking the Hebrew people away as slaves and
servants, or simply removing them from their homeland and placing them on what
Native Americans would call “reservations.”
God is saying to them,” don’t worry, don’t fear, no matter what you are
going through, no matter what you will have to go through, I will be with
you…and because I am with you, you will endure.
I will bring you out of exile and return you to the Promised Land.”
Luke is written many years later.
He is writing to the early Christians…those who have already known of
the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These are the ones who have known that though
Jesus was killed and buried, God displayed his power in calling Jesus forth
from the grave…these people knew that death no longer had the upper hand.
Yet Luke writes, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who
kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him
who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two
pennies? Yet one of them is not
forgotten in God’s sight. But even the
hairs of your head are all counted. Do
not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Luke was dealing with folks whose faith appeared shallow. They were living in a time in which
Christians were being put to death by those in authority…often guided by the
religious authorities. Remember, the
Gospel of Luke is written by the same one who wrote the book of Acts…what we
see depicted in Acts, where apostles were jailed, Stephen and others who
proclaimed Jesus name were stoned or put to death. Many believers evidently lived in fear of
being put to death for what they believed.
Luke reminds the people of Jesus’ words, telling the people,
“don’t worry about what they might do to you…they may rip apart your flesh and
blood, but that is all they can do to you.
Don’t worry about it…remember, I am the Resurrection…death no longer has
a hold…death has been conquered…don’t fear those people, the end of your blood
and flesh is not the end of you, you have been granted eternal life. Don’t be afraid of any other human.” Jesus says, “the only one you need to fear is
the one who has a say so about your final destiny…the one who has the last say
so on whether you spend it in His presence, or forever cast away from him and
spend an eternity without God, living in the reality of hell.”
What are Luke and Jesus getting at? Verse 8 and following make it clear, “And I tell
you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also
acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will
be denied before the angels of God. And
everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
It is all about our confession of who Jesus is in our lives. Luke uses Jesus’ words to tell the folks they
need to hold on to the faith, and be willing to stand up, regardless of whether
it puts their lives on the line. When I
hear of this, I think of Christians around the world, especially places like
China and India where if a person was found to be a professing Christian,
especially if they were sharing the name of Christ and calling others into a
relationship with Him, they are jailed, tortured, and, at times, put to death. They have taken very seriously these words of
Christ, not to worry about the folks who can hurt their bodies, but are more
concerned about their relationship with the One who knows the number of hairs
on our head, the One who knows and calls us by name.
My favorite author, Ted Dekker, wrote a book entitled Sinner in which it becomes illegal in
the United States, in the not too distant future, for a Christian to say,
“Jesus Christ is Lord…He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one
can come to the Father, except through Christ.”
To publically make that statement, in this book, is to be classified as
using “hate speech” because it excludes other faiths, and is a federally
chargeable offence. The question of the
book was what would our reaction be…would the people of our nation who were
Christian hold fast to their faith, proclaiming Jesus as Lord, or would they
remain silent, or recant their faith out of fear.
It’s a tough question for us, my friends, because laws like that
are not yet in affect here in the United States. We don’t have to worry about being imprisoned
or put to death for openly proclaiming Jesus’ Name. So what, then, is the problem? Why is it that we are usually so silent about
the Name of the One who knows our name?
It is not because we are living in fear of those who can kill the
body. Too often our failure to confess
Jesus is even much more sinister than that.
We live in fear of those who can kill our popularity. We don’t openly proclaim Jesus because
someone might label us a kook or a fanatic.
We don’t openly proclaim His Name because in some of our social circles
to live out our faith, proclaiming Jesus through our words and actions, would
mean we would have to take a stand against what others were saying and
doing…and they might not want us around anymore.
We live in fear of those who can kill our prosperity. We don’t openly proclaim Jesus in the
workplace because we are afraid that we might lose our jobs because we would
offend someone or because we would be seen as trying to indoctrinate those
around us. We don’t want to lose our
livelihood, so we remain silent.
The thing we have to remember, my friends, is to remain silent in
a place where we should be sharing the name of Christ, is to deny our
relationship with Him. Jesus’ command
was to go into all the world making disciples and proclaiming…not remaining
silent and keeping our faith to ourselves.
When we refuse to proclaim His name, we are denying Him as Lord of our
lives.
What we have to ask ourselves is, would we rather our coworkers,
bosses, neighbors, family members, and so-called friends deny knowing that
Christ proclaiming fanatic---would we rather those here distance themselves
from us—or would we rather Christ deny us when we stand before the throne of
God—do we want when the Father asks Jesus, “Is this one of the ones you died
for?” for Jesus to respond, “I’m not sure who this is”? That’s what Jesus says, if we deny Him, we
risk Him denying us.
So, what will we do? God
has promised that he knows us…He knows who we are and that He’s got our
back…that nothing can truly eternally bring harm to us. Jesus has even promised that when we are put
in a situation where we have to choose whether or not to confess our
relationship with Jesus Christ, that if we don’t know what to say, if we don’t
know how to respond, to simply trust Him, and that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
will give us the words we need at that very moment. If we hold fast to our faith, if we confess
to knowing the Name of the One who knows our name…that God will carry us
through any floods or fires that descend upon us as a result.
God knows our name and loves us enough not only to know the number
of hairs on our head, but to offer us His only Son. Can we love God enough to truly know and
speak His Name? He’s promised us to give
us the words…He’s promised to carry us through…He’s promised to an eternity in
His presence…so whether under pleasant circumstances or under threat of death,
how will we answer the question, “What’s do you call Him—what’s His Name?”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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