Sermon for New Year's Day - January 1, 2012

Opening Prayer

The subject for our meditation this morning is our Gospel reading: And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

God instituted the ordinance of circumcision in Genesis and Leviticus in the first covenant: “Whoever is not circumcised shall be cut off from my people.”

Thousands… hundreds of thousands… millions of Jewish men had been circumcised under the old covenant up until today’s reading. One was different, however. We heard about Him today – the One who was to institute the new covenant. Even though an infant, Jesus submitted Himself to the ordinance of circumcision voluntarily.

Paul said in his letter to the Galatians that Jesus was… “…born under the law to redeem those under the law.” Remember, Jesus lead a perfect life under the law to be the perfect sacrifice for our salvation. This was the beginning of His life of obedience – the first drop of blood for our redemption. Christ abolished the old covenant, the old ordinance of circumcision, and replaced it with a new covenant. Then: “Whoever is not circumcised shall be cut off from my people.”

Now: “Believe and be baptized, and you will be saved”.

Jesus is our salvation!

…which leads us to the second part of our meditation this morning, the naming of Jesus. And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Can you think of all of the names of Jesus given to us in the Bible? The kids and I brainstormed yesterday and came up with a lot of them: Christ, from the Greek Christos meaning “the anointed one”; Savior; Emmanuel, from the Hebrew for “God with us”. Remember what Jesus said right before He ascended into heaven? “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”; The Word; The Son of the Father, Son of God; The Son of David; The Son of Man; Prophet, Priest, King; Messiah; Redeemer; Lord; The Second Adam; The Prince of Peace; The Lamb of God…And Jesus

Jesus comes from the Hebrew “Yeshua” or “Yahweh is Salvation” or “The Lord is Salvation” or just… “Savior”. Why did His parents, Mary and Joseph, call Him Jesus? Well, the angel told them to, for one. The angel told both of them… Mary at the annunciation and Joseph in a dream as outlined in the Gospel of Matthew. Another reason why Joseph named Him Jesus was that, in doing so, Joseph officially adopted Jesus as his own son. And the third reason was that, in doing so, he expressed a hopeful belief that Jesus was, in fact, to be the Savior of all of mankind, as the angel had said.

The name of Jesus is powerful. I did a search on the word “name” in the New Testament and found it 177 times, mostly associated with Jesus Christ. I think that you will remember most of these: “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.” We began this service this morning in the name of Jesus and, as promised, He is here, among us!

“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” “In His name, the Gentiles hope” “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you”

The disciples baptized in Jesus’ name. They performed miracles, cast out demons, healed people, in the name of Jesus Christ… and… “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow”

And, according to Revelation, so it shall be.

But the simplest verse… the simplest statement… is the one that the angel made to Joseph in his dream: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The angel declared the Gospel in a nutshell… the Good News… Jesus, the Savior of the world. AMEN