HELLO, MY NAME IS JESUS

Have you ever thought about names?

My name is Jon Kesey, and a year ago today it felt like my name was really well known.

My school had just published an article on a ministry I started. I was on the radio, in the school newspaper, and on the school TV.

I could get my own agendas announced in our school chapel. I knew most of the school’s RA’s. I was dating the daughter of a speaker who had spoken in every major arena in the country, and I’d just finished a weekend touring with famous Christian bands and speakers. 

I’d even just received an award for male resident of the month.

I felt invincible.

Then, I transferred schools.

In all honesty, I had no idea what to do, and I spent most of my time sulking the loss of my reputation, feeling lonely, and wishing I was still at my old school. I couldn’t rely on my name to get me anywhere anymore.

 I almost transferred back more times than I could count. It almost seemed like I’d save more face going back and admitting defeat than staying in such a foreign place to what I was used to. 

Why? We aren’t meant to rely on our name. We are meant to rely on Jesus’ name.

For me, it's really, really hard to rely on Jesus' name. I've always relied on my own name, my family's name, or even the names of my mentors and pastors. Specifically, it's been easy to find my identity in the ministry I was doing, the people I knew, or the reputation I had. 

In the Bible, there is a man named Saul who had a big name. Saul was a Jewish man just after the time of Christ whose primary job was killing heretics—those preaching that a false prophet named Jesus was the true Jewish messiah/King. Saul killed hundreds of these heretics in order to preserve the truth. I can only imagine that his reputation as a defender of the faith in the Jewish community at the time only grew and grew. He was even studying under one of the most renowned Jewish teachers of the law at that time, Gamaliel! Boy, I would’ve loved to have a name like that.

One day, however, Paul was on the road to a city he was traveling to on business. All of a sudden, a light flashed before him and began to speak to him! As it turned out, God was actualy in this light. He told Saul that he was actually attacking the wrong side. Jesus was truly the messiah.

I like this story because it shows that Saul's whole identity was wrong. Despite years of holding a renewed ministry reputation, he was fighting against God, not for him.

See, we aren’t meant to build our own name. We are meant to build Jesus’ name. Jesus says lose your life so that you might find it. He says deny yourself, pick up your cross, and carry on.

Drop the face, and pick up the faith.

This is far better for us than any reputation we could ever build for ourselves. Why? Any reputation we build for ourselves will eventually fail.

I’ve built many reputations for myself before.

My freshman year, I was proud of the fact that I was the youngest pastor in training at my home church ever. I was taking seminary classes, being mentored by my head pastor, assistant pastor, and the ministry of education. I was close with the youth pastor, and could get my agendas pushed. Here is the thing though, a week after my Dad, a minister at that church at the time, died—I was fired.

It shattered my worldview. I was devastated. Why? These things became Jesus to me. They were my source of recognition and acceptance. Just like when I left my old school, I was let down.

It was pride in the wrong thing.

The Bible says that “him that knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.” It also says that “we have died and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God.”

We are not our own, we are sons and daughters of a true King. We are his ambassadors, able to build a much bigger kingdom than our own.

You know why I like Saul’s story?

Moved by the encounter, Saul decided to change his whole life, including his name. From then on, he became known as Paul, and he began to preach Jesus’ name.

He must've looked crazy. He was stepping out of everything familiar to him and giving up a widely renowned reputation under his old name.

It must have seemed like stepping from a great place into a dark and lonely one.

Here's the catch, though: Paul is the name that everyone remembers today, not Saul!

Despite the fame of his old name, it wasn't anywhere near the fame of Jesus's name! Today, Paul is known as the author of over half the New Testament in the Bible! He's arguably the most famous name in the Christian faith next to Jesus! Why?

His fame wasn't based on his name. It was based on Jesus'. He lost his life to gain it.

And you know what?

He got a much greater deal out of it! He gave up himself, and got much more! He got God’s cause, which is so much bigger than any we could create ourselves!

I thought studying the Bible and theology for my major in college would prepare me for ministry. I thought mentors and internships and ministries would lead me into my own ministry or job in a church one day. That’s how it works, right? Get the internship, and then get the job. Build your name bigger and bigger until it fights in the slot you want it. Grow your name bigger and bigger, and get a better and better life.

Well, today my ministry at my old school no longer exists. Many of my relationships there are not what they once were, and if I went back it wouldn’t be the same.

See, earthly names are limited. They’re limited to earthly products.

Heavenly names are the names that get us the good stuff.

So, what's your name?

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Mathew 6:19-21