Ten Commandments: Neglected. Very important to us as Christians.

Useful for holiness

Conviction of sins. Romans

Used to judge people. As we will see.

One of them is important to us today as we continue with our study of Luke.

Exodus 20:8 Lists the Fourth commandment: 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 You shall labor six days, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God.

Sabbath means to rest. But we don’t just rest as an end in itself. We rest to give our attention to God.

Fairly basic instruction.

However, what has constantly gotten the practice in trouble has been the phrase “keep it holy.”

This inspired 1,521 different laws that the Jewish people had to obey,

for example, you had to remove your false teeth. Eventually, to not profane the name of God, they ceased saying it at all.

But the Jewish people were not the only ones who got hung up on how exactly keep the sabbath day holy. Possibly as early as 1781 so-called “blue laws” were enacted in various United States colonies that restricted certain activities on Sunday.

For example the Blue laws of Conneticut read

CONCERNING THE SABBATH:

The Sabbath Day shall begin at sunset Saturday.

No one shall cross a river on the Sabbath but authorized clergymen.

No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep houses, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath Day.

No one shall kiss his or her children on the Sabbath or feasting days.

Winona Lake’s Blue laws read:

No manufacture, sale, consumption, or possession of alcohol

No swearing or spitting in public

No boating, carriage rides, or swimming on Sundays

No dancing with members of the opposite sex

No conducting of business (except food service) on Sundays

No card playing or wagering of any kind

In Texas a blue law was in effect until 1985 prohibiting selling housewares such as pots, pans, and washing machines on Sunday

Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota car dealerships continue to operate under blue-law prohibitions in which an automobile may not be purchased or traded on a Sunday.

It’s important that we find a balance in how we approach sabbath keeping. We’ve seen examples of how it has been overly legislated. But in our day the danger is probably more in not giving it enough attention.

Today we’ll learn from Luke how Jesus approached the sabbath and also learn some ways that we can make Sabbath keeping more meaningful.

Read Luke 6:1-5

1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain, and ate, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”

3 Jesus, answering them, said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?” 5 He said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Read 6:1 and 2 again.

1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain, and ate, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”

Let’s look first at what it was that the disciples did that got the Pharisees all rankled.

What was it exactly that they had done on the sabbath?

Was it the fact that they were walking on the sabbath?

No. You were allowed to walk, so long as it didn’t exceed two thousand cubits, about a 1/4 of a mile, which was called, appropriately a sabbath day’s journey.

Another possibility was that they were in a grain field on the sabbath. One of the sabbath laws said “it is not lawful for a man to visit his gardens or his fields to check on their progress.” In other words: it is work if you are checking how things are going. But the disciples weren’t checking up on the crop because it wasn’t theirs. They just happened to be passing through.

Perhaps we wonder if the trouble was that they were taking food that didn’t belong to them. Were they stealing? No. Even taking food from a field was allowed in Deuteronomy 23:25 “When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.” It is ok to snack at a man’s field but it is not ok to harvest. I wonder if the same applies to eating an apple off of someone’s tree.

The problem wasn’t walking on the sabbath, or being in a grain field on the sabbath, or taking food that didn’t belong to them. The problem was that they plucked the grain and rubbed it in their hands on the sabbath. They were harvesting and threshing. The Jewish rule was “he that reaps (on the sabbath day) ever so little, is guilty of stoning, and “plucking of ears of corn is a derivative of reaping”;” and is punishable with the same kind of death. Philo the Jew said that the rest of the sabbath not only reached to men, bond and free, and to beasts, but even to trees, and plants. He wrote “it was not lawful to cut a plant, or branch, or so much as a leaf”, on a sabbath day:

So the Pharisees were astonished at such a blatant disregard for the law and said to Jesus “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”

Jesus answered in verse 3 “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?”

It was allowed of David because of necessity. 1Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread.

So Jesus is hear saying to the Pharisees that in the same case there was a necessity of the disciples to eat and so while they were breaking the ceremonial laws that had been added to the original fourth commandment, they were not in fact breaking the commandment.

But then He completely scandalized them by adding in verse 5: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

John Gill writes: The Jews so far agree to this, that he that commanded the law of the sabbath, could dispense with it; For example: the day on which Jericho was taken was the sabbath day; and that though they slew and burnt on the sabbath day, the God that commanded the observation of the sabbath, commanded the profaning of it”.”

And since Christ is equal to the Father in power and glory so as he is Lord of all other things, he is of the sabbath, and has a power of dispensing with it, and even of abolishing it.

This helps to explain how the Gentile church changed the observance of the sabbath into observing The Lord’s Day.

The church began meeting on Sunday instead of saturday because it was the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

One of the early church fathers, Ignatius, wrote “We No longer keep the Sabbath but living according to the Lord’s day, on which also our Light arose”

Barnabus called it the eight day, the day after the Sabbath. As the first day of the week was the beginning of the first creation, they called the day after the sabbath the day of the beginning of the new creation. “We keep the eighth day with gladness, on which Jesus arose from the dead.”

Let’s look at some reasons why the Gentile church moved away from ceremonial observance of the seventh day as the sabbath.

When the Jewish Christians learned that the Gentiles had come into a saving knowledge of Jesus they were called upon to decide if the Gentile Christians needed to follow the Jewish laws. They convened a council to discuss it and made a lits of what they called “the necessary things”

Acts 15:28, 29 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”

No mention of keeping the seventh day as a sabbath. And so the gentile Christians were under no obligation to keep the seventh day as a sabbath.

In Colossians, Paul warned against those who would judge based on whether or not people kept the sabbath day.

Colossians 2:16 16 Let no man therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, 17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

As a matter of individual devotion a man might do as he pleased (Ro 14:5, 6, ), but no general rule as necessary for salvation could be compatible with the liberty wherein Christ has made us free.

In fact, even though the Christian’s worship was held on Sunday it did not even sanctify Sunday any more than a regular Wednesday service among us sanctifies Wednesday. John Calvin even proposed to adopt Thursday in place of Sunday. In fact the first church services were held in the evening, not in the morning. Should we then only meet on Sunday evening?

For many Christians meeting on Sunday morning is a simple impossibility. One member of our young adult small group works at Target at 3:00am making Sunday morning worship impossible for him. So Wednesday night _is_ his church. He is just as much a part of this church as anyone who attends on sunday.

So if Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and observance of the seventh day as the sabbath is no longer a command, then how should we observe the 4th commandment?

The puritans have some instruction to us. Their position generally was that the commandment teaches the principle that one day in seven is to be given to God, without in fact naming the day of the week. It says “Remember the sabbath day..the day of rest,” not “Remember the seventh day of the week…”. This is what distinguishes the ceremonial from the moral – the commandment reminded them that by ceremony, the seventh day had been marked out as the weekly Sabbath. But the identification of the specific day was not the essence of the commandment. The moral substance of the commandment was the principle to keep one day out of seven to the Lord.

So what we need to do is practice the principles that go with the sabbath, which are rest from work and worship to God.

Let’s look at each of these.

First rest from work.

According to a raft of recent studies, Americans are working more and enjoying it less. Between 1995 and 1999, the number of people calling in sick because of stress more than tripled. “I’ve got a lot of clients coming to me from Silicon Valley,” says Pam Ammondson…who runs a Santa Rosa…workshop to counsel…burnout [sufferers]. “It’s a dream to make a million dollars overnight. But these people are not happy, their relationships are miserable, and they’re taking a step back to ask what it’s all about”…. http://www.timesizing.com/1vacatns.htm

Sherman James, a researcher of epidemic diseases at the University of Michigan, describes a personality type named John Henryism. The name refers to the American folk hero who, hammering a six-foot-long steel drill, tried to out-race a steam drill tunneling through a mountain. John Henry beat the machine, only to fall dead from the superhuman effort.

Robert M. Sapolsky, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, (W.H. Freman and Co., 1998), p. 332–333; submitted by James Lindberg, Cha

We need to be exceptionally cautious as Americans that we not fall victim to John Henryism: working so hard that we lose our life under the mistaken notion that with enough effort and determination we can control our world.

It is exactly to this tendency that the sabbath rest speaks to us. We need rest.

Our farmer friends at Menno Mennonite Church said that if they work on Sunday, the machinery will break on Monday. While this is a little superstitious it is a reminder that God wants us to rest.

We need rest. We need a break from our work during our work day. We need sleep to regenerate from our work. And we need a sabbath day of rest to break from our work. It is a reminder that we are not little gods over our worlds.

What about our worship. How does keeping the sabbath holy affect our worship?

Leland Rycken says “Earlier in this century, someone claimed that we work at our play and play at our work. Today the confusion has deepened: we worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.” Leland Ryken, quoted in Critique (1997, No. 7), p. 9; submitted by Aaron Goerner, New Hartford, New York

Rafael Antonio Lozano is a man with a mission, albeit a strange one. The 33-year-old computer programmer from Plano, Texas, is on a quest to visit every company-owned Starbucks on the planet.

Lozano, who calls himself Winter, began his mission in 1997, when there were 1,304 such stores worldwide. Today, there are over 6,000 in 37 countries. As of October 31st, 2005, Winter had visited 4,918 Starbucks in North America, in addition to 213 others around the globe.

Despite his impressive pace, Winter is realistic about the nature of his quest, saying, “As long as they keep building Starbucks, I’ll never be finished.” He is also realistic about the importance of his mission. “Every time I reach a Starbucks, I feel like I’ve accomplished something,” he said, “when actually I’ve accomplished nothing.”

Jayne Clark, “Sooner or Latte, He’ll Get There,” USAToday.com (10-13-05); submitted by Sam O’Neal, St. Charles, Illino

One of the great concerns for how we treat the Lord’s day is that while we go as often as Lozano visits Starbucks, we may not actually be accomplishing anything.

As Annie Dillard says “Christians aren’t sensible of the conditions. The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets.”

In Isaiah 58:13, 14 God says “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.”

The temptation for us is the same as it was for the Pharisees. To make keeping the sabbath all about rest from work and to them minimize the focus on our devotion to god.

Richard Baxter, Puritan pastor and author says “It is a day for heart work, [not merely rest]. your principal business is with heaven; follow your hearts therefore all the day and see that they be not idle while your bodies are exercised: nothing is done if the heart do nothing. Follow your hearts therefore all the day and see that they be not idle while your bodies are exercised: nothing is done if the heart do nothing.”

Here are some ideas that he gives to prepare for the Lord’s day.

1. Do your work during the 6 days. Dispatch all your business

2. Shake off the thoughts of worldly things and clear your minds of worldly delights and cares

3. Call to mind the sermon you heard the last Lord’s day so that you may be prepared to receive the next.

4. Go seasonably to bed that you may not be sleepy on the Lord’s day. Acts 20:9 A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.

5. Repent of the sins of the week past as particularly and seriously as you can; and seek pardon and peace through Christ that you come not with guilt or trouble upon your consciences before the Lord.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. We need to not be worried with keeping the law ceremonially. But we need to follow it as a rest from our work and focus of our attention on God and our heart.

“Maybe you weren’t paying attention.”

Donna Blalock, Lubbock, Texas. Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom.

Sometimes we think we have enough but God really has more for us.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry John the Baptist’s disciples noticed that Jesus was getting more attention then John was.

John 2:26 says

26 They came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”

27 John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.

28 You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’

29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

30 [Jesus] must increase. I must decrease

As we study through the book of Luke, this is I believe the most important lesson that we can learn. More of Jesus. Less of me. It is tempting for us who have grown up in the church to be like the little girl who thought she’d already learned it all in Illinois. We may know the stories, but our lives still need renewal of our passion for God. The story of Jesus needs to impact us so that we say with John, “Lord, let there be more of you, and less of me.

Turn to Luke chapter four, verse 14 and we’ll read together through verse 30.

14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim release to the captives,

Recovering of sight to the blind,

To deliver those who are crushed,

19 And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20 He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

22 All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” 24 He said, “Most assuredly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”

28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

It’s funny how in small towns there are small occassions when someone leaves and reaches some degree of public notoriety. You probably know of some stories in Filer, Buhl, or Twin.

But it can be a mixed bag when celebrities return to their hometown.

It was very exciting for everyone in Ephrata when one of our high school baseball player signed with a major league baseball team. But it was awkward when he came back because the story was that he squandered the opportunity.

Another guy was the second in line to be the actor playing Robin in a Batman movie. It was very thrilling for everyone even though it didn’t materialize. But then he came to town and did some standup comedy that wound up being rather filthy.

When Jesus came to Nazareth He was a returning celebrity

In John 1:19-4:45 we learn some of the things Jesus was busy doing before coming home to Nazareth.

Jesus called Andrew, John, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael to be his disciples, turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana, talked with Nicodemus and the woman at the well and healed a royal official’s son.

Then in verse 14 of Luke 4 we read:

14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.

15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.



Jesus was a celebrity returning to His hometown

Jesus spoke often in Jewish synagogues. These were gathering places for worship that sprang up during the time when the Jews no longer had their temple. Synagogues were places of worship on the sabbath and schools for young boys during the week. They continued to exist even after the temple was rebuilt. Any town with at least ten Jewish families could have a synagogue. The synagogue was administered by one leader and an assistant. Often the leader would invite a visiting rabbi to read from the Scriptures and to teach. Thus Jesus, traveling from town to town, teaching, preaching and doing miracles would be a popular person to invite into a town’s synagogue. Life Application Bible Commentary for Luke, p. 92

When I read different books about the order of worship in the synagogues I was fascinated to discover that there were lots of differences in how they described it. I imagine it was like it is for us with little subtle changes happening all the time.

You’ll also notice that there were lots of similarities to what we do.

1. An opening prayer

2. They would recite a confession of faith or what was called the shema from deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 “Hear, Oh Israel The Lord your God the Lord is one.

5 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

6 These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart;

7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the door-posts of your house, and on your gates.

3. Then there would be readings, A psalm

4. and then Readings from the law and prophets

5. Following the readings would be a Brief message or a sermon (given by a rabbi, traveling speaker or one of the men of the congregation based on the scripture read.)

6. Closing prayer and dismissal



So at the appropriate time, probably following the reading of the psalm, the leader of the synagogue handed the scroll to Jesus, the traveling rabbi who opened it to Isaiah 61 and read

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim release to the captives,

Recovering of sight to the blind,

To deliver those who are crushed,

19 And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

This would have been a very familiar reading to everyone because He was reading about the Messiah that they were waiting for.

What they didn’t expect was when He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”



Job description.

Most of us have job descriptions, even if they aren’t written down. They describe what it is we are supposed to do so that if ever anyone needs to check and see if we’ve been doing our job, they can line up our work with the job description.

This was Jesus’ job description.

As we read through the rest of Luke we’ll see that these were the things Jesus was doing in His ministry.



Preach good news to the poor

Heal the Brokenhearted

Proclaim release to captives

Recovery of sight to the Blind

Deliver the Crushed

Both physical application and spiritual.



One of the things that we learn from Jesus about what we should be doing is the importance of prioritizing the needy. Doing so personally. It’s easy for us to feel like we’ve done our part when we make a donation to an organization that specializes in caring for the needy. Jesus didn’t make a donation to the leper colony. He was out in the midst of the needy so that He was able to help them personally. Our work is usually the place that this happens the most. We all are present with needs, but we need to also be available to minister to them. Deana comes home with lots of stories about the needs of both the students that ride her bus, and the drivers that she works with. She is not only present, but she also makes herself available to minister. One of the reasons that I frequent coffee shops is that it gives me an opportunity to meet the people that work there. People know that I am a pastor and so it gives me opportunity to talk about spiritual things. And when needs come up, I will be available.

Continuing with verse 22:

22 All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’”

24 He said, “Most assuredly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.



Jesus showed that it is often difficult for us to change among people who have known us for forever. He had grown up with them and they knew Him as the Joseph the carpenter’s son. Now He had become something different. You and I will never change to the degree that Jesus did, but we need to be careful that our familiarity with each other doesn’t keep us from taking radical growth steps in our relationship with Jesus and personal ministry. Jesus had to step away from the familiar when He returned to His home church and it cost Him, nearly fatally.

Inertia can be one of our greatest enemies as Christians. When I moved back to Ephrata to plant Columbia Basin Mennonite Community church, I was a wild eyed twenty-something with new ideas and new beliefs about living out the gospel. But as time passed on, and the church eventually closed, I began to settle into a safe faith. The funny thing, is that it probably didn’t look very safe to people around me because I was still a bit of a radical. But I had lost the edge that had defined me earlier. I took my place among the other Christians in the church and played it safe.

But when we imitate Jesus, it is often going to cost us, and sometimes with the very people that we have grown up with in the faith. This happened to Jesus, and it will likely happen to us if we are pursuing radical renewal in our lives.

25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”

28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

St. Augustine said “They love truth when it enlightens them, but hate truth when it accuses them.”

Jesus was pointing out that He had not come just for the Jews but the Gentiles, the very people who oppressed the Jews.

Jesus wasn’t saying that He came to the Gentiles and _not_ the Jews. He was saying that He came to both which upset the status quo.

We need to remember that just as Jesus came for the Gentiles as well as the Jews, He came for the sinners as well as the saints.

If our friends only include Christians, then we are not following Jesus’ example. If our church only ministers to ourself, we are not following Jesus’ example. This includes the sunday morning service.

Eugene peterson says of the church “The Sunday morning congregation is a hospital.” Eugene Peterson, Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 1.

I heard a story this week of a church that was reaching out to non-Christian troubled youth. It gradually made the parents of the churched youth uncomfortable because of the character of the troubled youth. Eventually the parents pulled their youth from the youth group.

I think what should have happened was that the church should have developed a discipleship group for the churched youth that would train them to be ministers to the nonChristian youth. Then you wouldn’t have had to choose between the churched youth and the nonchurched youth.

Jesus discussed this with the Pharisees in Mark 2:16, 17

16 The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

If push comes to shove, we need to always choose to minister to the sinners even if some of the churched won’t accept it.

C.S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.”

Have you ever had a sin that you just couldn’t seem to shake, and thought to yourself, “once I get this nailed, I won’t struggle with sin anymore.” We live with the illusion that the sin we struggle with is just one area and that keeps us from realizing how sinful we are in other areas.

Lewis goes on to say “That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, book 3, chapter 11; from Sermonnotes.com

Today we’re going to look at the time when Jesus was in the desert immediately after his baptism and prior to the beginning of His ministry and was being tempted by Satan. We’re going to see what temptation is like, what the devil’s role is in it, and how we can imitate Jesus in resisting temptation. This is a challenging message because by setting out to resist temptation, like Lewis said, we realize how bad we are. We will be testedwhen we try to resist temptation. I became more aware of temptations in my own life as I was preparing for this. If you take this sermon to heart, the same will happen to you.

Prayer. “Open our eyes and our ears to the lure of temptation. Thank you that your son Jesus resisted temptation so that we might have the Holy Spirit to empower us to resist temptation. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Luke 4:1-12 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.

7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

9 He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here,

10 for it is written,

‘He will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you;’

11 and,

‘On their hands they will bear you up,

Lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’”

12 Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

13 When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.

Temptation

(from introduction) What is temptation.

Temptation is a test. It does not mean trying to get you to sin. It means testing you.

When you take your drivers test, you aren’t being tempted to break the law. You are being tested to give you the opportunity to show that you won’t break the law.

God allows us to be tempted. But just like the driving instructore, that does not mean that He is trying to get us to break the law. James says “Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one”

He gets us out on the road where Satan attempts to get us to do evil for the purpose of building endurance in us.

James 1:2-6

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The devil

(from introdution) what the devil’s role is in temptation

Mark Twain said We do not pay [Satan] reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents. A person who has, for untold centuries, maintained the imposing position of spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of the whole of it, must be granted the possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order.

Mark Twain. Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 3

one of the things we’re going to see time and again in Luke is the war that’s being waged by Satan and his demons against mankind

Temptation is one of his tools.

When he tempts us, it is to prove that we fail. And so he will lure us by putting things in our way to distract us. When God tests us, it is to give us the opportunity to prove that we serve Him.

Important to realize when things get thrown in our way it often means that the enemy is trying to keep us from being effective ministers in this world.

So,

Three ways we can win the test of temptation.

Take courage that you do not fight temptation alone.

In the book of 1Corinthians 10:13 Paul told the corinthian church “13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man.”

When I am going through some trial, I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one struggling with this problem. Isolation and loneliness increase our susceptibility to falling prey to temptation. Being around other Christians in a setting where you can talk about your struggles is so necessary. Sunday school, youth group, sunday evening fellowship and young adult small group are ways to take comfort that we’re in this together. We’re not alone in our temptations. They are common to everyone.

Ask God for wisdom.

Paul continues in 1Corinthians to say “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure”

If you are being tested, God will always make a way of to follow the law. He’s like the driver’s ed instructor telling you to watch out for the one way street ahead so you don’t go down it. We need to learn to go to God in prayer and ask Him for our driving instructions.

James 1:5, 6

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

An important part of the story of Jesus’ temptation that Luke tells us is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit went he went into the desert to be tempted. He was not alone. And neither are you. If you lack wisdom to deal with a temptation ask God in faith who gives liberal help to us.

Use scripture.

Jesus quoted scripture at every temptation to refute satan.

Memorize scripture.

If you struggle with overeating, “Man shall not live by bread along, but by every word of God”

Satan offered Jesus control over everything. If you struggle with taking control of everything, you need to always remember that God is the one in control. You need to get your focus off yourself and onto God. So Jesus quoted and so should you: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”

The same is true if you put acquiring possessions ahead of God. “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

Take advantage of your sonship. “I can sin, because God will just forgive me. “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

If you have a problem with lust: Job 31:1 1 “I made a covenant with my eyes, How then should I look lustfully at a young woman?”

Worry: I’m a world class worrier. I have a PHd in worry from Worry University hanging on my wall.

I need to quote daily: Matthew 6:33, 34 33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

Satan does not leave us alone. He didn’t leave Jesus alone.

We need to be ready for the battle with him, and not be like the ostrich who hides his head in the sand.

Before we pray, I’d like to end with some scriptures about our war with the devil. To help us realize how important it is to take the devil seriously.

1Peter 5:8, 9 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.

Ephesians 6:12, 13

12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.

2Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.

2Timothy 4:18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Luke 3:21-22

21 Now it happened, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened,

22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”

Jesus modeled Baptism

Hebrews 6:1

1 Therefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God,

2 of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Die with Christ, resurrected with Christ.

This is why I like immersion baptism so much. It symbolizes the drama of Jesus going into the tomb and being raised again.

If you’ve never been baptized, I encourage you to talk about it with me and seek to get baptized.

Three people getting saved.

Three people being baptized.

The Holy Spirit. Living through the spirit.

I’ve said a lot about the Holy Spirit in this past year because I feel as though He is the neglected person of the trinity.

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As Mennonites committed to the example of Jesus, He is in the primacy. When Rory comes this is the topic I’ve asked Him to speak on. After He is gone, I am going to begin interspersing some of my sermons on Luke with some teaching on God the Father.

It is important for us to realize that Jesus did nothing apart from the Spirit.

Gregory of Nazianzus, an early church father wrote:

Christ is born; the Spirit is his forefunner. Lk 1:31, 35

Christ is baptized; the Spirit bears him witness.

Christ is tempted; the Spirit leads him up Lk 4:2

Christ performs miracles. The Spirit accompanies him. Mt. 12:22

Christ ascends. The Spirit fills his place. Acts 1:9

One of the most dangerous things we can do is to live in our own strength.

For most of us we don’t realize that we are doing this until we come to a tragedy for which our strength is not enough to get us by.

And then when we come to that point, we don’t even want the Holy Spirit to be our strength. What we want is for God to fix the problem so we can go back to business as usual.

Larry Crabb writes in “Shattered Dreams”

‘In our day of feel-good Christianity, we have come up with a wrong view of our spiritual journey. We think of suffering as something abnormal, as evidence that we lack faith. We work so hard to escape suffering [even demanding that God bail us out] that we fail to realize what good things might be happening in us as we suffer.”

“It’s a testimony to how desperately we’re committed to finding ourselves apart from God that the choice to abandon ourselves to Him is often most powerfully made when life has dragged us to the brink of blasphemy. Until we know how close we come to giving up on God (“Look what He allowed to happen in my life!”) we’ll know little of what it means to give ourselves fully to God.”

Shattered Dreams, p. 166

Here is where Jesus’ example is so profound. He did nothing in His ministry apart from the Holy Spirit. He did not begin until the Holy Spirit annointed down upon Him.

It’s a little confusing to figure out what this scene meant because since Jesus was fully God as well as fully man, He would have had the Holy Spirit already. But what I think is going on here is that while He had the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit annointed Him for ministry. In the same way, while we have the Holy Spirit when we are saved, I believe that He anoints us at various times for ministry in the church and to the world.

The trinity

I’ve been thinking about the complexities of the trinity this week.

If it were not for the testimony of the New Testament, we would believe as the Jews do that as God proclaimed His identity. He is one God. Yahweh: “I am.” Not “we are”

If it were not for the testimony of the Old Testement and Jesus’ declarations that He and the Father are one, we would have to believe that God was three persons.

The confusion is not that God reveals Himself as either one person or three people, it is that God reveals Himself as both.

One of my pastor friends says that if you find two things in the Bible that seem to contradict each other, both must be true.

If you’d like to read an anabaptist article on paradoxes in the Bible ask me after the service and I’ll make a copy or point you to the website.

Here in the story of Jesus’ baptism we have a wonderful example of the three persons of the trinity.

Jesus, God incarnate is anointed with the Holy Spirit and approved of by God the Father.

There is no doubt that God is three persons from this verse.

Close with what the trinity means to us. I’ll flesh this out more another time.

One of the important aspects that the trinity teaches us is intimate fellowship. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are in constant communion. They are not alone. And their communion is intimate: close.

We need to follow this example in our marriages.

We need to follow this example in a few close friendships. One of the things I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older is that I have fewer close friends. Many have drifted away. And in the laziness of my older age, I haven’t invested in new ones.

We need people. Just as the trinity are in close communion with each other, we need to be in close community with each other.

Philippians 2:9 says

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If nothing happens today in this sermon, we want to exalt the name of Jesus. You should come away with a sense of awe about Jesus’ name.

Jesus’ name is so important because it did not come from human origin. It came directly from God himself.

When we utter the name “Jesus,” we are not speaking an ordinary name. This is the name that God gave HIm which is above every name. We need to reclaim a sense of awe at the name of Jesus.

This Sunday is called Holy Name on the church calendar. It commemorates the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

Technorati Tags: bible, demons, kingdom of God, Jesus

This Sunday is called Holy Name on the church calendar. It commemorates the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

Luke 1:26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28 Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.

30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’

and then in Luke 2:21 When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Jesus pronounced ee ye soos. Comes from the Hebrew word for Joshua. The angel told Mary’s husband Joseph the meaning of the Word in Matthew 1:21. He said “for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

I think it’s really important for us to use proper names when talking about God. That’s one of the reasons I use a Bible translation that uses the name Yahweh for God. We live in what’s called a pluralistic society. Pluralistic means lots of ideas side by side, each given the same amount of legitimacy. Yahweh is side by side with Allah, with the Buddah, mother earth, and others, and given no more significance to most people. In fact, there are often people attending Bible believing Churches who believe that each of these are legitimate ways to center your life and secure your eternity.

This is much like that of the Roman empire where multitude gods were acknowledged side by side. Pantheon. And leaders were considered gods. Tolerance for the Jewish God Yahweh. In fact, the Roman rulers were mostly tolerant of Jesus. His crucifixtion was more a result of the Jewish leader’s intolerance then the Romans.

The gospel of the Kingdom of God stands in the face of this and says, “No, there is only one God, He is Yahweh, and His Son Jesus is the only way into heaven.” He is a rock that makes men stumble. He has a claim on your life.

While driving with her 3-year-old nephew, Connor, his mother asked him to name the other people riding in the car with us. After he answered successfully, she then asked him to name every other family relative he could think of, including their nicknames–and he did. “Connor, what is God’s other name?” she finally asked him. Everyone all sat quietly, expecting him to say Jesus. After pondering the question a moment, his little face lit up. “Why, God’s last name is ‘Bless America,’” he said.

Amanda Scroggs, Alexandria, VA. “Heart to Heart,” Today’s Christian Woman

People have lots of funny ideas about who God is and what His name is. So, the name of Jesus is very important. It discriminates between Him and all the imposters out there.

Today we’re going to look at what role the name of Jesus plays in our lives.

Inside your bulletin (see this post) is a hand out with a list of some of the scriptures that reference the name of Jesus. Take it out and you’ll be able to follow along. Because the teaching on the name of Jesus is so extensive, I thought it would be good for you to have a reference. Stick this in your Bible, or at home on your refrigerator.

I want to make a point at the beginning that it is the Kingdom of God that is advanced through the proclamation of the name of Jesus.

Jesus the King. Servants act in the name of their king. The boundaries of a kingdom domain are established under the name of the king. Wars are fought.

When we use the name of Jesus, we are establishing territory in the name of our king. We are declaring that Jesus is Lord _here_.

First, there is Authority over demons in the name of Jesus.

I had the opportunity to read the sermon that Andy preached on the weapons of our warfare and it was a reminder that we don’t just live in a physical world, we live in a spiritual world that is antagonistic against us. It’s in this world that authority was given in Jesus name over demons.

Mark 9:38 39 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.” But Jesus said “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

People who weren’t even following Jesus had power over demons in Jesus’ name.

Acts 16:18 She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.

When we are confronted by darkness, whether it is in the physical world, or in the spiritual world, we need to claim the authority of Jesus’ name over these spiritual forces.

Second, there is Authority over sickness in the name of Jesus

Soon after Pentecost, a lame man asked Peter for a money.

In Acts 3:6 Peter said to him, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

It was in the name of Jesus that the miracle occurred. Peter was extending the boundaries of the Kingdom of God by praying for healing in the name of Jesus his King.

Some other examples:

Acts 4:10 be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.

Acts 4:30 While you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.

In this case, not just healings, but signs and wonder. Ponder what that means.

It’s important to know that the powerful movements of God that establish themselves in local churches are most often a result of recovering the spirit of the book of Acts and the early church. We need to go back to Acts and begin applying the power of the Holy spirit in the name of Jesus.

Third, the Kingdom of God’s domain is expanded when people come into the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus.

Preaching, faith, repentence, and baptism all happen in the name of Jesus.

Speaking/preaching in the name of Jesus

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (the messiah) they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 9:27 After Paul’s conversion, Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Believing in his name

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name.

John 20:31 these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name.

1John 3:23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as He commanded.



Repentance, justification and forgiveness of sins are in the name of Jesus

Acts 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.

1Corinthians 6:11 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

We are baptized in the name of Jesus

Acts 2:38 Peter said to them “Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:48 He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.

Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Application: In sharing the good news of the Kingdom with people, we should make frequent use of the name of Jesus. Because there is power in the name. And also because it differentiates the gospel from the other religions of the world.

Fourth, the boundaries of the Kingdom of God are expanded when We live in the name of Jesus

Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Living in Jesus’ name illustration

Laura Duvall Bush tells the story of when her daughter Aimee was in nursery school, she’d come home each day with drawings, collages, and other projects. Next to her own name she’d scrawl the name of someone she loved–usually Mommy or Daddy, sometimes baby brother Ben. “I did this for you,” she’d proudly say.

She says “As I reflect on this, I remember the apostle Paul’s exhortation, “Whatever you do … do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). If Aimee could do every school project for me or for her dad, surely I can do my “projects” for my heavenly Father. Now I often ask myself, Have I written my Lord’s name on all I’ve have done today?

Laura DuVall Bush, New Britain, CT, Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart.

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.



Sometimes we suffer in the name of Jesus.

Acts 5:41 They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.

Acts 15:25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The year was A.D. 155, and the persecution against Christians swept across the Roman Empire and came to the city of Smyrna. The proconsul of Symrna, swept up in this persecution, put out an order that the Bishop of Symrna, Polycarp, was to be found, arrested, and brought to the public arena for execution. They found Polycarp and brought him before thousands of spectators screaming for blood. But the proconsul had compassion on this man who was almost a hundred years old. He signaled the crowd to silence. To Polycarp he said, “Curse the Christ and live.”

The crowd waited for the old man to answer. In an amazingly strong voice, he said, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How dare I blaspheme the name of my king and Lord!” With that Polycarp became a martyr.

Leith Anderson, “Can Jesus Trust Us?” Preaching Today, Tape No. 126.

Conclusion:

Awe when we say the name Jesus.

Begin to say the name Jesus in everyday settings. It’s evangelism. Learn to talk about Jesus, not just saying the generic “God”

What practical way can you put Jesus’ signature on the projects in your life.

This post is licensed under the Creative Commons license.

The naming of Jesus

God gave Him his name.

Philippians 2:99 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

Mary instructed to name Him Jesus

Matthew 1:21 She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.

Luke 1:31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and will call his name “Jesus”

Jesus named at His circumcision

Luke 2:21 When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called jesus, which was given by the angel before he was

conceived in the womb.

The name of Jesus is to be glorified

2Thessalonians 1:12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth.



Authority in the name of Jesus

Authority over demons in the name of Jesus.

Mark 9:38 39 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.” But Jesus said “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

Acts 16:18 She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.

Authority over sickness in the name of Jesus

Acts 3:6 But Peter said “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

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Authority over sickness in the name of Jesus

Acts 3:6 But Peter said “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

Acts 3:16 By faith in his name has his name made this man strong, whom you see and know.

Acts 4:10 be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.

Acts 4:30 While you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.

Speaking/preaching in the name of Jesus

Acts 4:18 They called them and charged them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Acts 5:40 They agreed with him. Summoning the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of jesus and let them go.

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (the messiah) they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Believing in his name

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name.

John 2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did.

John 20:31 these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name.

1John 3:23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as He commanded.



Repentance, justification and remission of sins are in the name of Jesus

Luke 24:47 repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.

1John 2:12 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

1Corinthians 6:11 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

We are baptized in the name of Jesus

Acts 2:38 Peter said to them “Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:16 for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus.

Acts 10:48 He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.

Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

We live, dye and suffer for the name of Jesus

Acts 5:41 They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.

Acts 15:14 Simeon has reported how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

Acts 15:26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 19:17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

Romans 1:5 through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of fatih among all the nations, for his name’s sake.

1Corinthians 1:10 Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same spirit.

1Corinthians 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.

Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

2Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.

1Corinthians 1:2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours.