You Will Name Him Jesus

       It wasn't just a desperate attempt at vacation fun that caused my brother, my sister and me to try to hold our breath all the way through Des Moines Iowa one hot summer day in the late 1950's. It was our mother and her exercise of what she would have called reasonable caution.

       The problem was that there was a polio outbreak in Des Moines. We had to go through town if we were to make it from California to Indiana. There were no Interstates. So we had to try to hold our breath. There was no air conditioning but the windows were up and we held our breath to take in the bare minimum of deadly Des Moines air.

       I really don't blame my mother for trying. Polio was a crippler and a killer. So you can imagine how relieved we all were when Dr. Jonas Salk developed his polio vaccine.

       When I was in 4th or 5th grade, the students in our school were called together and each given a sugar cube with pink syrup on it. It was the serum that had been developed by Dr. Salk to keep us from getting polio.

      Did we turn up our noses and say, "I don't really think I want to avoid polio this way?  I don’t like sugar cubes.  I'm going to wait until someone develops a painful shot?" That would have been crazy or lots of levels.

       That's the sense in which we have to see what God has done for us in Christ -- as the best news we're ever going to get for our lives and our futures -- and as an offer we would be crazy to refuse.

       This is Christmas Eve – the night we celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.  We are here to sing the familiar carols about a manger and shepherds and all the rest.  

       But the story is much bigger than that.  One of the great themes of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia is that the inside of something can be greater than the outside. This is what we find as we approach the stable in Bethlehem -- that the child in the manger is the One the Apostle Paul calls the "power of God for salvation for all who believe." The surprise of Christmas is that God's eternal plan for the ages and plan for our own lives could be contained in a stable, in a trough for the feeding of animals.

       During the lead up to this night we have looked at Matthews's account of the birth of Jesus Christ. We see how God prepared the way in the story of Israel through the genealogy of verses 1-18. We saw how God spoke to Joseph to tell him that the child Mary was expecting was in her by the Holy Spirit that he was not to be in anyway afraid to make Mary his wife.

       Now, today, we read that an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream to tell him, "Name the child Jesus-or "Ya-Sus"- Yahweh saves -- because He Himself will save His people from their sins." Jesus is to be that rare person whose name means exactly what it says. "God-Saves” is not only Jesus' name. It is His perfect description.

       Why was that baby called "God saves us?" I want to give three answers to that.

       First, he was called GOD saves us, because He was from and is God.

       Second, he was called God SAVES Us because we needed saving.

       Third, he was called God Saves US because WE can't save ourselves.

       You know, the angels in the Bible are very different from the angels of the New Age or the angels on greeting cards. They have a very different message. The angels of the New Age that some people claim to contact, tell you that you are a god or goddess. They teach you that every religion is true, and that you can find the truth within by meditation. They tell you that Jesus is only one of many saviors.

       But real angels, God's angels, aren't like that. The angels who announced the birth of Jesus said that He was the Savior of the world. "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." He won't bring you self-gratification and give you everything you want. But he will meet your greatest need which is reconciliation with your Creator. The angel announced Jesus as the only way to God -- the only one who can heal us and save us from sin, death and judgment.

       He was called GOD saves us, because He was from and is God.

       He was called God SAVES Us because we needed saving.

       He was called GOD Saves Us because WE can't save ourselves.

       We cannot save ourselves. Being a Christian is not a matter of making all the right moves, earning biblical brownie points or spiritual merit badges. Being a Christian is a matter of faith, personal faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.  Just being around His people maybe once a year or twice if you throw in Easter doesn't do it. Being here every Sunday without fail if that’s all you do doesn’t do it either.  In the words of scripture, we must personally put on Jesus.

      What does it mean to put on Jesus?

       Bob Vernon, former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, told a true story that probably touched the lives of some of you here. A motorcycle officer spotted a red pickup truck speeding past an intersection without even slowing for the stop sign. As the office turned on his flashing lights and pulled up behind the slowing truck, he thought. "This fellow is probably late for work." Unknown to the officer, the driver of the pickup had just robbed an all- night grocery store. On the seat beside the driver was the paper bag with the money and the gun he had used. The driver thought, "The cops know already." He was scared. He rested his hand on the gun. The truck pulled to the side of the roadway and stopped. The officer parked his motorcycle and approached the driver's side of the pickup. He was relaxed, "Good morning sir. May I see your " He didn't even get to finish his sentence. The driver stuck his arm out of the truck and fired his weapon. The barrel of the gun was only two inches away from the officer. The bullet hit the officer in the center of his chest. He was knocked to the ground seven feet away.

       For a few moments, all was quiet. Then, to the horror of the gunman, the officer slowly stood to his feet. The driver couldn't believe it, "This guy must be Clark Kent." In shock, the policeman slowly began to brush the dirt from his uniform. After two or three seconds, the officer regained his wits, pulled his service revolver, and fired two rounds into the side of the truck. The first round went through the open window and destroyed the windshield. The second round went through the side of the door and ripped into the driver'' left leg. "Don't shoot," screamed the terrified robber, throwing the gun and the bag of money out of the window. The officer's life had been spared because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

       But then, Vernon continues: "A few weeks later another officer and his partner went to serve a search warrant on a well-known drug dealer in the city of Inglewood. As his partner knocked, the officer yelled out "Police!" and started to kick down the door. From inside the shabby apartment, four slugs were fired through the door. One found its mark. The impact was almost exactly where the motorcycle officer had been hit only a few weeks before squarely in the center of the chest.

       This officer was 27 years old. He left a wife, three children and a bulletproof vest in the trunk of his car parked 30 feet from where he fell."

       Vernon writes: "Every police officer in Los Angeles believes in bulletproof vests. They work! I doubt you could find a policeman anywhere who doesn't believe vests save lives. But that is not enough. An officer must do more than believe in vests. He must take his belief to the point of personal commitment. He must be willing to wear the vest, and wear it at all times -- even when it is hot and uncomfortable.

       In the same way, it is just not just enough to believe that a man named Jesus was born in Bethlehem, was crucified on a cross and rose from the dead 2,000 years ago. You must take your belief to a point of commitment, to the point of "putting on" the risen Christ, receiving Him as your Savior and Lord. Just because it's available doesn't mean you have put it on. You may have left it in the trunk.  You must put it on. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no way out except through me."

       This evening I urge you to put on the vest.  We put on the salvation in Jesus Christ when we believe that He is giving a very personal call to us. It is when we turn over the leadership of our lives to Him.

       It’s not enough to believe that it works for other people.   That is simply to leave the vest in the trunk of your car.  It is to put on the vest ourselves – and let Jesus change our lives.