CHRISTMAS
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 1:18-2,; LUKE 2:1-20
DECEMBER 20, 1987
What’s in a name? My parents named me James which means “supplanter,” but I really don’t want to supplant anybody. My wife’s parents named her Barbara which means “stranger in our midst,” but Barb doesn’t really want to be strange in the midst of anybody. So what’s in a name? What did your parents name you? Did they really think of the meaning when they gave you your name? After all, parents pick some strange names. Some parents name their children Burl which means “sewer.” Some parents have named their children Monroe which means “swamp.” Some parents have named their sons Troy which means “curly hair” and I suppose that’s alright but other parents name their sons Cal or Calvin which means “no hair.” It means “bald one.” The name Cameron means “crooked nose.” Some parents name their daughters Val or Hilda or Heidi, all of which mean “battle maiden.” So what’s in a name?
Experts tell us that most parents really don’t know the meaning of the names they pick. In fact, experts tell us that when most parents pick a name, they’re really only concerned with phonetics. They’re really only concerned with how the name sounds, but the Bible tells us that when God picks a name, God is not concerned with phonetics. He’s not concerned with how the name sounds. God is concerned with etymology and philology. God is concerned with what the word means. God is concerned with what the name means and the names that God picks are filled with meaning.
So in our passage of scripture for today, the Father picks two names for His Son, two names for the Christ-child and these comprise our two teachings this morning. First of all, God chose the name Jesus. “You shall call His name Jesus. You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people.”
Seven years ago, Robert Clark Graham who is a millionaire physicist and certainly a genius… seven years ago he founded the Repository of Germinal Choice in Escondido, California: Incredibly, this repository contains the sperm of Nobel prize winners and others of elite intelligence from all over the world. Ever since Graham founded this repository seven years ago, he has been buried by a sea of newspaper and television and reporters who fear—most of whom fear—that Graham is trying to create a kind of genetic master race. But actually it appears that Graham is really just trying to create a superman. He just wants to create a superman.
Now since the foundation of the repository, 41 children have been born, some of which are now past the diaper stage but it’s too early to tell whether or not Graham has created a superman. But in his own language, Graham says he looks forward to the day when, through this method, he might be able to create what he calls a “secular savior,” someone so brilliant, someone so exceptional that he might be able or she might be able to save this planet earth from its destructive orbit before it is too late.
The Bible tells us that this world, this planet, already has a Savior. Already has a Savior, a Savior who will save this world, a Savior who at the consummation will save the world from Armageddon. A Savior who even now is able to save you from the destruction of sin and the destruction of death. The Bible says that Savior’s name is Jesus. “You shall call His name Jesus.” That’s what the angel of the Lord said to Joseph in Matthew, chapter 1. That’s what the angel of the Lord, that’s what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke, chapter 1. “You shall call His name Jesus.”
The name Jesus is a Greek form of the Hebrew name “Yeshua” which means “savior.” It is the equivalent of the Greek word “sotaire” which means “savior.” You see, God wants you to know, God wants the world to know that the name He chose for His Son means Savior. “You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people.” Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. Only Jesus Christ can save the world from sin and from death.
All the religions of the world have founders. Islam, of course, has Muhammed. Buddhism has Buddha. Confucianism has Confucius. Hinduism has countless founders and so-called avatars but only Christianity offers you a Savior. You see, all of the religions of the world tell people to be good. All of the religions of the world warn us about sin. All of the religions of the world tell us of our need for atonement and forgiveness, but only Christianity offers you a Savior.
Hinduism offers the Ganges River and once a year, devout Hindus make their pilgrimage there that they might wash in those alleged sacred waters, those muddy waters, which they hope will cleanse them from sin. Islam offers the Kaaba at the great mosque at Mecca where devout Muhammedans once in their lifetime make a pilgrimage there to the sacred place, to Mecca, to the great mosque, and they march around the Kaaba seven times. They kiss the black stone, hoping that somehow they might find the mercy of Allah and somehow find forgiveness of sin. But, you see, only Christianity offers you a Savior. Only Christianity offers you somebody who died for you, who took the penalty of your sin upon Himself, and now truly can offer you forgiveness.
You see, Muhammed didn’t die for anybody. He didn’t die for anybody’s sins. Confucius didn’t die for anybody’s sins. Buddha didn’t die for anybody’s sins. They all struggled with their own sins. Only Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died an atoning death for you. Only Jesus Christ offers to save you from death.
You see, Confucius didn’t rise from the dead. He died 479 years before Christ and his body was buried in the earth. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Buddha didn’t rise from the dead. He died. His body was burned. It was incinerated. His ashes were tossed out among the people. His bones were saved as sacred relics. Muhammed didn’t rise from the dead. He didn’t conquer death. He died and he was buried at the sacred tomb at Medina 270 miles north of Mecca. That’s where the remains of his body are today. You see, only Jesus Christ rose from the dead in power and great glory to the testimony of eyewitnesses and we have their eyewitness testimony in this book. “He rose from the dead. He appeared to 500 people and for this He came into the world that we might have victory over death.” He alone is Savior. He alone is Jesus, Yeshua, and He offers victory over sin and death.
But, of course, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ doesn’t automatically save anybody and Jesus Christ won’t automatically save you. He doesn’t automatically save everybody and He doesn’t automatically save anybody. The Bible says that we must, through faith, appropriate His salvation. We must respond. We must receive this gift which He came into the world to offer. We must invite Jesus Christ to come and be born in our hearts. We must invite Him to come and be the Lord and Savior of our lives. When we do that, indeed, He gives us eternal life.
There is a chapel, Westminster Abbey, in London. This chapel in Westminster Abbey is called St. Georges Chapel. It’s really a memorial. The chapel contains a book. In this book there are 60,000 names, the names of 60,000 civilians, 60,000 men and women who died during World War II. 60,000 men and women who were killed by the enemy in London during World War II. Some of them were rich. Some of them were poor. Some of them were men. Some were women. Some were noble. Some were common. Some were famous. Some infamous, but they all died, and it is a book of the dead. And a light shines from the ceiling in the chapel down on the pages of the book. Every day they turn a page so that more names of the 60,000 names may be seen.
The Bible tells us that in heaven there is a book, a very, very special book. It is not a book of the dead. The Bible says in heaven there is a book called the Book of Life. In this book, at the consummation of the age, there will be found written all the names of the men and women who have life, all the names of the men and women throughout all time who have eternal life. All these names, all these people, all these men and women will have one thing in common and that one thing is a Savior, Jesus Christ.
I don’t know about the men and women who lived in generations past and never heard the name of Christ, who lived in America before the Europeans came here with the gospel. I don’t know about men and women living in the world today who never truly hear the gospel. They, one day, will appear before Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead and He will judge all things justly. But I do know this: I know that everyone who embraces Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will find his name written in that book. Everyone who embraces Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has eternal life. Quite frankly, that’s the only thing that gives this life meaning.
If we didn’t have a Savior, someone to save us from sin and death, this life just wouldn’t make any sense. This world is filled with tragedy. This world is filled with suffering. I read the story last week of a man named George Jaeger. This story is told by Gordon McDonald in a book called “The Effective Father.” It’s also told by Charles Swindoll in a book called “Home.” George Jaeger lived on the East Coast, on the Atlantic Coast. He was a Christian man, loved Jesus Christ. He’d been married for 16 years and he had three sons. They all had given their lives to Jesus Christ. This was a Christian family.
Like a lot of dads, George began to feel like he wasn’t spending enough time with his sons, wasn’t spending enough time with his children. He loved his children but he realized that he hadn’t spent enough time with them. He realized they wouldn’t be in the home forever and the moments he had with them were precious. He felt kind of guilty so he decided to do something about it. So George decided to take his three boys fishing. He rented a boat one day, late in the day, and he took his three sons and his father out in this boat for a fishing trip on the Atlantic. This was going to be a very, very special time. They were going to build memories together and catch fish together, but it wasn’t meant to be.
There, out in the midst of the Atlantic, a horrible Atlantic storm arose and the boat somehow began to fill with water. George was very much afraid and he told the boys to begin to try to bail the water out of the boat. After a while it became evident that it was a futile cause. About 6:30 P.M. as it was becoming dark the boat went down. They could look towards the shore which was a long ways away as it was growing dark and they could see the lights on the shore. George knew that they were going to have to try to swim. He put life vests on the three boys and a life vest on his dad. He put a life vest on himself. He took a rope. He tied all of them together, all five of them, bound themselves together. They began to swim towards shore. The hours passes and as the hours passed in the midst of the storm and the waves were great, they began to grow weak. They began to take in water and brine. Even though they had life jackets on, it began to be a struggle to keep their heads above water. So it was that the youngest boy whose name was Clifford, he was the first to become horribly weak and couldn’t keep himself above water. George, in desperate panic, tried to help but there came that moment in the middle of the night when Clifford couldn’t struggle anymore. He said “Dad, I’m tired.” The last words that Clifford said were “I’m going to see Jesus.”
Well so it was that one by one the other boys died. Then George’s dad died but George was in shock by then and he hardly knew what was going on. It was eight hours at sea when George found himself washed ashore, the rope still tied to the bodies of his dead family. When I read that story, I couldn’t help but cry a little bit because I thought of Drew and Heather and Barb, how that would feel if it happened to me. I asked myself why? Why do things like that happen? Here’s a Christian family. George loved the Lord. His sons loved the Lord. His father loved the Lord. How can that happen? How can we live in the midst of a world of so much suffering and so much tragedy, a world where there’s disease and there’s broken relationships and there’s death.
I’ve got to say if I wasn’t a Christian, I would just say “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die” and “Get what you can while you can,” but you see, I am a Christian and everything is different because we have a Savior. You see, I don’t believe George’s sons were lost. They weren’t lost at all. I believe because of Jesus Christ those boys are in heaven. They are with the Lord and George’s dad is with the Lord and someday George will be with the Lord and with his father and with his sons and they’ll all be together because we have a Savior. You see, I believe this life is a classroom and in this classroom we have many tests and we have many trials but it’s all a time of preparation for the real world which is to come.
Some people live in this classroom for ten years, some people live 90 years but if you know Jesus Christ it really doesn’t matter because He is Savior and He is the hope of the world. He’s the only one who can ever make things right. “You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people.”
Well, there’s a second title given to Christ in our passage of scripture for today and with this we’ll close. It’s the title, it’s the name Emmanuel. His name shall be called Emmanuel which means “God with us.” You see, God the Father chose a second name for His Son. He decided to name Him after Himself. You shall call Him “God with us.” This is really what Christmas is all about: the incarnation, that in Jesus Christ, God became flesh and dwelled among us. When we look at Jesus Christ we see God. The Bible says of Jesus Christ that “He was in the beginning with God and is God.” The Bible says “He became flesh and dwelled among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father. No man has ever seen the Father. The only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” The Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” The Bible says that “In Him all the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell bodily.” He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. We look at Him and we see God because in His essence He is God and we believe that.
If you truly believe that that Christ child born at Bethlehem is God then it should change your life. If you really believe that Jesus Christ is God, that He is Emmanuel, then you have only one response that you could make and that response if worship. That’s why the three wise men came to see the Christ child because they wanted to worship Him. They came and they fell down before Him and they worshipped Him. As that child grew up to manhood, as people recognized Him as Emmanuel, as they recognized Him as God, they worshipped Him. The disciples worshipped Him on the Sea of Galilee when He calmed the sea and He rebuked the waves and the wind. They said “Who is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” And they worshipped Him. They worshipped Him on the Mount of Transfiguration when He was unveiled in heavenly glory. Thomas worshipped Him in the upper room, falling down on his knees and saying “My Lord and my God” when he saw the resurrected Christ. John the Apostle worshipped Him on the island of Patmos when he saw the resurrected Christ appearing in celestial glory.
The Bible tells us that this very moment today the angels of heaven worship Christ. They worship the one born at Bethlehem because He is Emmanuel, because He is God. Of course, as Christians, we worship every Sunday morning. All over the world Christians worship and there’s a certain excitement to that, to think that every Sunday all over the world Christians gather to worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that they gather to worship Emmanuel.
You know two weeks ago I did the Bronco chapel. I’ve got to confess, I love football. I enjoy watching the games. I love coming to church and I love what I do but I love Sundays going home from church. I look forward to going to the refrigerator, getting some food out and turning on the Bronco game. It’s therapy for me. For three hours I don’t have an intelligent thought. So this was kind of a special moment for me when I could go and do the Bronco chapel. I took our son Drew with me. That was real special for Drew. We got down outside of Bronco stadium. This was before the New England Patriot game. Randy Gradishar and Jim Ryan met us out in the parking lot. Both Randy Gradishar and Jim Ryan are very committed Christian. They love Jesus Christ. As we were walking in, I asked Jim Ryan how many guys would be at the chapel. He said he didn’t know but usually there were about 10 or 15 and maybe some of the coaches. He said, “You know the guys who come to chapel really believe in Jesus Christ.” He said they believe in Jesus Christ and they’re just there to worship so you don’t need to give a pep talk. It’s obvious if you saw the game and the way they performed the first half that I didn’t give a pep talk but he said “These guys really believe in Jesus Christ. Some of them are very extroverted about it. Some of them are kind of quiet about it but they love Christ and they want to worship. There’s probably a couple of guys who are there as kind of a good luck charm but most of them really believe.”
Well, since Jim had said that, I really wanted to see who would be there. Of course, Drew wanted to see who would be there. We went back behind the men’s locker room. There in the chapel, first we were in the locker room. We saw some guys come in there and change. I’ve got to say these guys aren’t built like normal human beings. Other than Bob and I, I have not seen anyone built like that. Anyway, we went into the chapel. We’re sitting back there in the chapel just waiting to see who would come in. Drew’s mouth just fell open when the first three guys that came into the chapel were Rulon Jones, Karl Mecklenberg, and John Elway. Before we were done, before we started the worship service, 20 Bronco players came to the chapel. Dan Reeves and some of the coaches came. It was just neat to see that guys, even football players, want to take time out on Sunday morning and worship. It is neat to see that all over the world in every stratum of life and every walk of life there are men and women who love Jesus Christ, who are committed to Jesus Christ and want to worship Him. That’s exciting.
But, of course, worship isn’t really something we do on Sunday morning. It’s not something we do only on Sunday morning. You see, worship is something we’re supposed to do all week long, all life long. If we really believe that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, we’re supposed to worship Him every day of our life.
There are many words in the Bible that are translated worship. Etymologically they all have different meanings, different root meanings. There is the word “proskuneo” which originally meant “to kiss.” There is the word ” hupantaó,” a strange sounding word which in the Greek means to “fall down on your knees.” There is the word “sebomai” which is translated “worship” but it literally means “to feel awe” but all of these words over time came to refer to the doing, the rendering, the offering of service to God because true worship is expressed in a life offered to God, offered to God in service. If we would worship Emmanuel, if we would worship Christ day by day, we must offer our life in service to Him moment by moment and hour by hour.
One of the words that is used for worship in the Bible is the word “latreia” and it literally means “to serve.” The Bible says “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve” because worship and service, you see, are joined. In fact, initially, Sunday morning church gatherings — and even today they’re called services, worship services — because worship is primarily expressed through service.
Do you want to worship the Christ child? Do you want to worship Emmanuel? Then serve Him day by day every day of your life. A servant’s heart: that’s the essence of worship. You see, Mother Teresa’s life, her whole life, is an expression of worship towards Christ because it’s an offering of service to Christ and service to people for His sake. You see, worship is not primarily the raising of your hands towards heaven. It’s not the closing of your hands in prayer. Worship does not mean to fall down on your knees. It doesn’t mean to bring your face to the ground, prostrate before the Lord. All of these are biblical modes and forms of worship, but they’re not truly worship. True worship is in the heart. True worship is expressed in a servant’s heart, a man or a woman who truly longs to serve Jesus Christ. That’s what it means to worship Christ day by day. Paul said “Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death.” That’s the attitude of worship. Mary said to the angel “Behold, I am the handmaiden, the servant of the Lord. Be it done to me in accordance with Thy will.” That’s the attitude of worship.
In closing this morning, I’d like to tell you a story of a woman who was born in the year 1820, a woman who was born to an extremely wealthy family, a woman whose name is known to all of you. This woman was born in 1820 and she was reared in England on two very, very large family estates. In the midst of wealth, she was taught all of the social graces. She was taught Greek and Latin and mathematics and philosophy. At the age of 16, this woman was presented to Victoria, Queen of all England, and she entered into the realm of high society. She traveled throughout Europe and she lived a life of parties and prominence but for this woman, something was missing in her heart. There was an emptiness there, a lack of meaning, a lack of purpose. Shortly before this woman turned 30 years of age, she found meaning and joy and life itself when she gave her heart and life to Jesus Christ. She asked Jesus Christ to come into her life and be her Lord and Savior.
This woman decided, she resolved, that she would make her life an offering to God, an expression of worship to Christ. When she was 30 years old, she wrote in her diary “I am 30 years of age now, the age upon which my Lord Jesus Christ entered His earthly ministry. No more childish things, no more vain things Lord Jesus Christ. I only want to serve You.” It was that year that she went to nursing school. The year was 1850. Three years later she graduated from nursing school and she was made the director, the administrator, of a woman’s hospital in London, partly because of her education and training but mostly because of her social prominence. The next year, in the year 1854 when she was 34, she was asked by the government of Great Britain to go to Crimea to serve in the midst of the Crimean War. She was asked to go to Crimea and be in charge of all nursing there in the midst of battle because Great Britain and France were at war with Russia. So it was in October of 1854, at the age of 34, this woman came by boat to Scutari, just opposite Constantinople, which today of course is called Istanbul. She came out of the boat and she walked through the mud of Scutari, she and 33 other nurses, all clothed in ugly gray uniforms. The tragic charge of the light brigade had just taken place in the middle of the battle of Balaklava. Two-thirds of the British army had died in that tragic battle. When she came ashore, 500 wounded men were laying about and she was asked to care for them all. She made a temporary hospital in the midst of some old Turkish barracks.
As the days passed, more and more wounded men were brought in and she tried to care for them all. She had very little food and almost no supplies. The hospital became so massive with the wounded that the corridors, the aisles of that hospital, became five miles long. But every night, every night, all night long she would walk those corridors trying to help people for Christ’s sake. She would carry a lamp and they called her “The Lady of the Lamp.” So it was that she ministered every day and every night in the midst of tragedy and suffering. In the midst of that, she came down with a horrible illness and she almost died. Queen Victoria said she prayed every day but this woman didn’t die. She lived. At the close of the Crimean War, she had been placed in charge of all British hospitals. She revolutionized hospital administration and the whole nursing profession. She came home.
In 1856, at the age of 36, she came home a heroine. The people flooded the streets to see her. She formed a nursing school at St. Thomas Hospital in London but the very next year, when she was 37 years old, something strange happened. She became ill. She went to bed. She said she feared her heart was weak. She said she feared her heart could stop any moment though she was only 37 years old. One day her heart did stop, 53 years later, when she was 90 years of age. Incredibly, those last 53 years she spent most of her time in bed. Some people said she was a hypochondriac but nobody knew and nobody knows today. God knows, but it really didn’t matter to people because, you see, they loved her. They loved her and people came to her. From all over the world people came to her. Heads of state, ministers, people from the medical profession, from every nation of the earth, they came to her. She died in the year 1910 at the age of 90 and, of course, her name was Florence Nightingale.
Before Florence Nightingale died, they asked her how she wanted to be remembered. She said “Above all else, I just want to be known as a woman who held nothing back from God.” Nobody knows, nobody can judge whether Florence Nightingale held something back from God. Certainly, apparently, during the Crimean War she held nothing back, but God only knows. And yet, you see, if we would worship, if we would truly worship Jesus Christ as Emmanuel, if you really believe He’s God, that child born in Bethlehem, then you must hold nothing back because that’s the essence of worship: presenting yourself as an offering to Him. The amazing thing is that throughout the course of your life, day by day, you hold nothing back. You lay yourself as a living offering to Him. If you do that, you’ll have joy and you’ll have happiness and you’ll have meaning and you’ll have power and you’ll have blessing this world can’t possibly understand because He is God. He is Emmanuel and He’ll meet every need of your life.
The Apostle Paul said, “I appeal to you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship.” What does it mean to worship Christ? It means to present yourself as a living offering.
So what’s in a name? In most of our names there is very little, but in His names there is the hope of the world. “You shall call His name Jesus, Savior.” Christ alone can save us from sin and death. “His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us.” He asks us to present our lives to Him as an offering in His name. Let’s close with a word of prayer.