Trey H. Little

Sermon Text:  Matthew 1: 18-25

December 19, 2010 (Advent 4)

Albany, Texas

“What to Expect When You Are Expecting:  The Name Matters”

I had a scary dream last night—I don’t normally like to talk about my dreams, but my dream last night may affect you.  All I remember is that I was preaching along just fine—I thought things were going well—I thought all of you were getting it—so I kept preaching.  Apparently, thought, I kept going a little too long—because prior to the end—the big “Let me close with this” moment, you started getting up and leaving.  I just thought you should know!

If you have been to Abilene in the past several days then perhaps you have seen the big billboard at the corner of Buffalo Gap Road and the Winters Freeway—right there in black and white for all to see and wonder—Matthew 1:18-25—that is our sermon text this morning.

One more thing--regardless of how you are feeling; where you are going; what you have to get done; what you leave undone—no matter what—the good news is—you are not alone.

Turn with me to Matthew 1: 18-25.

            Have you ever asked you parents why they named you what they named you?  Does the name matter to you?  I bet it does to them.  And if you have ever asked them the reason why they gave you your name then I bet you have heard such responses as:  “It was just a name that we always liked.”  Or, “It is a family name.”  Or, “It was the name of my closest friend and so we named you after him.” 

            Well, as child, I wanted desperately to know why my parents chose to name me Trey Heard Little.  Why would they give me a name that would form a complete sentence?  Why would they give me a name that others would mock with sayings like:   “Trey Heard a Little bird.”  Or, “Trey didn’t hear very much.”  In fact, even today, some of my “friends” have even decided to take the liberty of shortening my name and simply call me “Heard.”  Do people not think I have feelings??(ha, ha).

            I kind of felt like the boy named “Fruit Stand.”  He lived in Santa Cruz, California toward the end of the 1960’s and the hippie era.  A time when hippie parents were giving their children names like:  Snow Princess, Sea Foam, Time Warp, Precious Promise, Dweezle and Moon Unit.

            Well, on the first day of school this hippie child got off the bus wearing a tag proudly displaying, “Fruit Stand.”  The teacher thought it a bit strange, but, then again, this was the hippie era and so she welcomed him to the kindergarten class.  She asked, “”Fruit Stand, would you like to play with the blocks?”  No response.  Later she asked, “Fruit Stand, would you like a snack?”  Still, no response.

            Well, the day was coming to an end, and the teacher led the kids out to the buses.  She asked, “Fruit Stand, do you know which bus is yours?”  Still, no response.  The teacher knew that lots of kids are shy on their first day but that didn’t matter because she knew she had asked the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stop on the reverse side of their names tags.  Just as she put the boy on the bus and said, “Good-bye Fruit Stand—I’ll see you tomorrow,” she turned over his bus tag—and there, neatly printed, was the word, “ANTHONY.” (From a sermon by King Duncan, “You Shall Name Him Jesus).

            The name matters—and it certainly mattered in the Hebrew culture and tradition—both of which were very important to Matthew.  Typically, every Hebrew name given had a significant meaning behind it—the name was a sign of something quite outward—generally expressing some personal characteristic, some incident connected with the birth, some hope or wish or prayer of the parent; henceforth the child embodied it (Unger’s).

            The name matters.

And Matthew wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to re-emphasize this truth.  In fact, he chose to remind the people of two very important names—both belonging to the same person.

First, he tells of the moment when the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus means:  “The Lord saves.”  And Jesus certainly embodied His name and His name became His purpose—He was born to live out the hope and prayer of His Father in Heaven to redeem His people.  To free them from the shackles of sin.  To give them reason for life.  To save them from themselves and give them hope to carry on.  To save His people from their sins!

Does that matter to you?  Does that have any impact on your expectations during this Advent season?

I think it matters that later in Matthew he writes, “For where two or three come together IN MY NAME, there am I with them” (18:20). 

I think it matters that in Romans 10:13 Paul reminds us that:  “for everyone who calls on THE NAME of the Lord will be saved.”

  Friends, there is a reason God gave His Son the name of Jesus—think about it:  If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; if our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; if our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; if our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.  But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior (Author Unknown).

Jesus—The Name matters!

But I find this text interesting for another reason as well—did you notice that there was instructions given for another name?  I like to think of it as a family name.  Matthew tells us of this family name by quoting the prophet Isaiah (7:14)—“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel—which means, “God with us.”

Over in Luke we can read of the visit the angel Gabriel made to Mary.  He went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Understandably, Mary was “greatly troubled at his words.”  She couldn’t figure it out.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son…He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever:  his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:30-33).

Jesus—fully divine and yet fully human—is with us.  Immanuel—it forms a complete sentence to the fullest extent—“God is with us” is the promise we can cling to when we feel alone.  It is the promise that makes us complete.  We, through faith in Jesus Christ, receive the promise of salvation through the forgiveness of our sins but also that the God of the Universe will never leave us nor forsake us.

As Paul reminds us in Romans 8:  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

The Name matters.

The Name above all names.  He is our Advocate.  He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the Word that became flesh.  He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  He is our Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.  He is the Way and the Truth and the Life.  He is with us!

Friends, it took me a while to realize how special my name was.  But I know now that my name will forever remind me of my granddaddy Tommy—a man who is very special to me—a man I love dearly—a man that I have always admired—a man whose last name is Heard.

What will the Name Jesus remind you of?  What about Immanuel?  Will they be special to you?

Let me close with this:  It is a story Max Lucado tells about his neighbor who was trying to teach his six-year-old son how to shoot a basketball.  The father shot a couple of times and then said, “Do it just like that, son; it’s real easy.”  The little boy tried very hard but couldn’t get the ball ten feet in the air.  He just couldn’t do it—and finally he got so frustrated hearing his father talk about how easy it was the boy said, “It’s easy for you up there.  You don’t know how hard it is from down here.”

Friends, God knows!

That’s why the name Jesus matters.

That’s why the name Immanuel matters.

What are you expecting?

AMEN.