pramsay posted on October 04, 2007 13:56 1882 views

That Worthy Name

Spending hours in libraries, searching through old dusty archives, researching ancient church registers or stomping through graveyards may not be your thing. Tracking down your ancestors isn’t a priority for you. But for those who are into genealogies, occasionally they uncover a notorious relative who disgraced the family name. A murderer; a shyster; a fraudulent scoundrel; a compulsive liar. Family tree findings are not always flattering. Some have dishonored the family name.

You can lose a lot of things in life but when you lose your good name – you’ve lost everything.

There is one Name that transcends all others. James put it this way:

Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

(James 2:7)

The Apostle James would remember a time when he didn’t value that worthy Name. He grew up in the same home as Jesus with the same parents. But a split came into that family in Nazareth. James and his siblings rejected Jesus as the Christ. They joined those who opposed Him.

But everything changed after the Resurrection. James bowed his heart to the Resurrected Christ and owned Jesus of Nazareth as Lord. Now he writes fellow believers and strongly encourages them to live for Christ at any cost. The standard for Christian living was to be modeled after the behaviour of Christ Himself. James is very strong on Christ-like behaviour. No hypocrisy; no discrimination; no favoritism; and a life full of good works. After all, that’s what James saw every day in his own home growing up in Nazareth.

James writes that we should never show favoritism to the rich and mighty – the people of influence. Why would ‘assembly ushers’ scurry around to get these people good and comfortable seats while relegating the poor to the hard old benches against the back wall? To cater to the rich and to shun the poor is a real sin against God who is no respecter of persons. James points out that it’s often the rich who most strongly oppose and blaspheme the lovely Name – that worthy Name.

What’s the worthy name to which James was referring? More than likely that Name was ‘Jesus’!  The word ‘worthy’ also means beautiful and excellent. Many of these Christian Jews of the 1st century suffered intensely for being identified with the beautiful name ‘Jesus’. But they loved Him and were thrilled to be identified with Him. They took His Name publicly when they obeyed the Lord in baptism. They became marked people by the persecutors – people who loved the Name of Jesus. The New English Bible puts it this way: “…that honored Name by which God has claimed you.”  If the persecutors demanded that they renounce their Christian faith in blasphemy by spitting on the ground at the mention of His lovely Name, they would refuse.

Are you thrilled over your link to that worthy Name?

Naturally speaking, if someone whispers a nasty allegation about us behind our backs, we’re offended. But what if they’re snickering and whispering something like this: “Shhhh….yeah…that girl right over there. She belongs to Jesus. She says she loves Him. She lives for Him. She walks with Him. I see her putting her head down – I think she even talks to Him. Weird, eh?!!” 

Dear Christian, if that’s what’s going on behind your back, thank the Lord that someone is noticing your love for that lovely Man – Jesus.

We should walk very carefully today to ensure we do nothing to bring dishonor on that worthy Name

Click on this link (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/h/ohiljesu.htm )

and take a few minutes to sing this hymn:

There is a Name I love to hear,
I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in my ear,
The sweetest Name on earth.

Chorus:

O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
Because He first loved me!

It bids my trembling heart rejoice.
It dries each rising tear.
It tells me, in a “still small voice,”
To trust and never fear.

Jesus, the Name I love so well,
The Name I love to hear:
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart conceive how dear.

(Frederick Whitefield)

Translate