A New Name for God
MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, that television commercial, which ran for the very first time in 1997, won numerous awards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Advertising. And there is such a thing as the Hall of Fame of advertising. And even though it won many awards and entered the Hall of Fame of Advertising, there were a lot of people that didn’t really believe in the commercial. For example, the L.A. Times said this.
“It’s fitting that Apple is featuring a TV commercial of dead guys because it itself is a dead brand.”
LA TIMES
Now, you have to understand that Apple was introducing a concept of thinking differently to its customers, and people were criticizing them because there were no products. There was no Apple mentioned until the very end. And they said, how can you show computers or Apple products if none of it is in your commercial? And that was the whole purpose of thinking different. Now, some of you are thinking, well, why am I talking about Apple and think different? Because when you bring it to our community. What are we trying to do? There are thousands of people in our community who do not know God as their savior, and we’re trying to engage them and get them to do what? To think different about God. Now, there are a hundred different reasons why thousands of people in Madison County is not engaged in church. Now, we could make a long list. We could probably come up with 50, 75, or 100 different answers. But I think that when you take the answers, I think it comes down to a couple of things.
Many people have written off
God because they believe
God has written them off.
Is that true, my friends? Is that true? No. Good. Another reason is.
Many people have written off the Church because they believe the Church has written them off.
Is that true? No, it’s not true. Now, after all, if you have to think of their line of thinking because you think about the unchurched, the unchurched goes, Well, if there is a God, then God knows everything. And God knows all about my sins, Drew. He knows all about the skeletons in my closet, and he knows everything that I’ve done. And if God knows everything that I’ve done and I know that I’ve done everything that I’ve done, there is no reason that God has written me off because he knows everything about me. And so there are some people who have just walked away from God because God knows everything about them. And there’s no way that they believe that God could accept them. Other people, they have gotten onto the treadmill of religion, and they’ve been walking that treadmill, they’ve been walking it fast, and they just get tired of the religious activity, and they fall off, and then they get back on the treadmill of religion, trying to earn the favor, the love and the forgiveness of God. And they just exhaust themself on this religious treadmill, attempting to earn God’s love. And one day, they wake up, and they go, Is religion really helpful? Is this religious system really helping me? And they come to the conclusion that religious systems are not helping them, and they walk off the treadmill, they walk away from the church, and ultimately they walk away from God. I don’t know how many times in my life I’ve heard stories similar to that, and I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of hearing stories of people who have walked away from the church and thus walked away from God and given up on the church, on God. And they’re praying and hoping that at the end, God is grading on a curve scale. Folks, I just have to say something that I don’t think that is acceptable. And from the very beginning of this church, it’s been our objective. It’s been our goal to help the 80,000 people in this community, in this county, that when it comes to God, they have a reason to think different about God. And there is a reason to consider our beliefs about God. There is a reason to think different about God. The reason we can think about God differently is that something has happened, something transformative has happened to cause us to reconsider, to think different about God and the reason think different about God and the reason why we’ve gathered together is to give these 80,000 people who have potentially given up on God, to give them a reason to rethink God. Now, let me tell you how we’re going to do this. We’re going to go back thousands and thousands of years. We’re not going to go back to Jesus and to the first century. We’re going to go back all the way to the beginning of time. And at the beginning of time, you have to understand that in Hebrew, they used a word for God, and this is the Hebrew word for God. When we translate this into the English language, we get four letters, and the four-letter is YHWH which is the name of what? YHWH. Now, that was the name that was given to God, and that was the name that initially was the original name of God. Now you have to understand God has many different names. We cannot go through all the names of God this morning to go from the Book of Genesis way to the Book of Revelation. And every name of God represents a different aspect of God’s character. Do you understand what I’m talking about? His multiple names, just like I have multiple names to my children. They call me Pops, you know. To my mom, I’m called the golden child. Okay, it’s true. You can ask her, and she will tell you, too. My staff, they call me Virg. Many of you call me Pastor Virgil. Now, here’s the deal I go by different names, which are from different groups of people. The same is true of God, for example, in the book of Genesis.
written them off.
Elohim = God of all creation.
El Shaddal = The Lord God Almighty.
Jehovah Jireh = the Lord God Provides
So we have all of these different names of God. Now, here’s the important thing for you to understand. In the very beginning, the name of God, YHWH, was believed by the ancient Jews that you could not pronounce the name of God. If you did, you would die. Think about this, you would die if you would articulate or say the name, God. It comes from Leviticus chapter 24, verse 16.
“Anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them.”
LEVITICUS 24:16 (NIV)
In other words, when they would quote in the beginning, YHWH created heavens and Heaven and earth. They would go in the beginning blank, creating Heaven and Earth. They wouldn’t even pronounce it. And the reason why is that if you said the name of God out loud is that God had so much animosity toward us that God has so much hatred toward us. He said he was so angry with us. He was so upset with us. There was such a distance between God and humanity that if we said the name out loud, God would strike us down dead. And that was a common belief. And then there arrived a think different moment. This thinks different moment offered us a brand new name for God. Not only did it offer us a brand new name for God. It offered you and me a new way to relate to God, to associate with God. And this thing different moment occurred when Jesus Christ appeared on the world stage. And he’s the one that gave God a new name. Now think about the Ministry of Jesus. Jesus at the age of 30. He begins his public ministry. Correct. And as he begins his public ministry and then it starts, it begins to skyrocket. Huge crowds are following him wherever he goes. His teachings are mesmerizing. People are saying, Jesus. He’s teaching things that we could have never articulate. He’s teaching in ways that we’ve never heard of. He’s performing miracles left and right. He turns water into wine at a wedding. He calms an angry storm with three words. Peace be still. Exactly. He’s casting demons out of people. He’s healing the sick. He’s feeding the massive crowd with a few fish and a few loaves of bread. And then his closest followers, the 12 disciples, begin to watch. Drew. What’s going on? And they catch on to the secret of his power. And they begin to be inquisitive of Jesus. And they ask Jesus how to get a hold of the power. Now, the interesting thing is that the disciples didn’t ask Jesus how to preach a sermon. They didn’t ask Jesus how to heal the sick. They didn’t ask Jesus how to perform a miracle. Now notice what they do in Chapter 11 of Verse 1 from Luke, and they said.
“Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” “He said to them, ‘When you pray, say….. Father.”
LUKE 11:1-2 (NIV)
Now notice what’s taking place. The Hebrew word for God, which was YAWH, has now been changed from the Hebrew word to Dad. Now we get to relate to God. Not as YAWH as a God whose name we’re not able to articulate, but now we get to relate to God as a dad, as a father. And folks, think about this. This was remarkable. This was shocking. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He goes on toward the end of the chapter in Luke, Chapter 11. And he says this.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
LUKE 11.11-13 (NIV)
Here’s what He’s saying. If the earthly Father knows how to give good gifts to his children, how much more does God in Heaven know how to give better gifts? And in this thinking, a different moment. The greatest thing, a different moment in the history of the world, is that.
Think Different Moment:
Your Heavenly Father LOVES you and is FOR you.
Think about this, folks. This is radical. This is a completely new concept of who God is. Is that God is for you, that God is for me. That He loves us and cares for us. He’s on our side. And this is a radical departure from the Old Testament. But, folks, you have to understand something is that God is for you, not because it’s all about you, but because he loves you. It’s all about Jesus Christ. Because this whole ordeal, this whole adventure, hinges on the fact that Jesus Christ died a death on the cross. It was a horrible, horrific death. But Jesus went to the cross and paid the price for your sin and for my sin. Because of that, God is for us. Now, folks, let me just give you another thought s different moment at this time. Think about this God bankrupt heaven. Why did he bankrupt Heaven? He gave his most prized possession, his son, to come to the earth, to die a horrible death on the cross, to be separated from the Father for the first time in history when he went to the grave to pay for our sins. And then, on the third day, when Jesus Christ came out of the grave, you know what God did? God flung open the kingdom doors, and he said, Everybody who wants to come in can come in. Now, think about this. God paid a great sacrifice so that we could have eternal life. He paid a great price so the kingdom doors could be flung open. And you know what? The church is not known for that. The church is known. What we’re against. I don’t know about you, but I’m not happy with that. Can you think about this? God did everything in his power to make salvation available for anyone who would want to come. And what we have is this treasured gift that God is for you. God is for this community. God is for this world. And the church world has not stirred that gift very well. The world knows us as the things that were against and not the things that were for. And I don’t know about you, but that’s not okay with me. Is it okay with you? See folks in 1990. Rose and I were living in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Jacob was just born on May 24th of that year and August 1st. We moved from Waynesburg, Kentucky, to Oldham County, Kentucky. Rose had taken the job as a middle school special ed teacher at Oldham County Middle School. I enrolled in Southern Seminary to go to seminary. The plan was that I was going to go through seminary. It took 96 hours to get a master of divinity. I was going to go through seminary as quickly as possible, then get through seminary that I was going to become a pastor, and we were going to take a job, and we were going to move somewhere. And I was going to invest my life in that church. Well, in September, about a month and a half later, the leadership of Eastside called me on one evening during the week, and they said, Hey, Virgil, would you like to come and preach for us this Sunday? And I go, Well, I’m going to seminary to be a pastor. I have no experience on my resume. If I go and preach for this church, it will look good on my resume. Yeah, sure, I’ll do that. And so I came and spoke at the church back over on 1675 East Main Street where the Salvation Army is currently. And so a preaching and God kind of showed up and showed off. And then, the next week, I didn’t preach. And then the week after, on a Thursday night, Drew. Thursday night at 10:00, we didn’t have cell phones back then, and they called me on my home phone in the apartment. And the leadership said, Hey, Virgil, is there any way that you can preach for this Sunday? I said, Yeah, I love to preach. I’m just trying to build my résumé. So I come into town, I preach. Then the next week, Thursday night at 10:00, they called me again. I am like, we got something going on here. This is a pretty good gig. Yeah. I’ll be glad to preach, I hang up. The third week, the same thing is at 10:00 on Thursday night. So I’m a little slow. So on the third Sunday in a row, after I got the phone call at 10:00 on Thursday, it occurred to me what was going on. The leadership of the church was calling Everybody else. To see if they could get somebody to come and preach, and they couldn’t find anyone. So being the last ditch effort on Thursday night at 10:00. I caught on to it. And so before I left on that Sunday, I said to the leadership of the church, hey, just by the way, you know, we just moved to Oldman County. I’m in seminary. We got a new baby. My wife has a new job. Hey, if you can’t call me by Tuesday night, don’t call me. So Monday passes. Tuesday passed close to 10:00. Is a phone going to ring? And sure enough, at 10:00 on that Tuesday night, the phone rang. Pick it up. Hey, can you come and preach? And then. They asked me, Hey, would you like to be our interim? We’re trying to search for a new pastor. We’re looking for someone full-time. We know that you’re in seminary. Would you like to be the interim? And I go building my résumé, going to school to be a pastor. It would look good for me to have an interim on my résumé, and Rose and I said yes. Well, Thanksgiving comes around, and we go to Williamsburg to see her parents. We come back here, and I ask the leadership of the church. I ask them a question. I said, Where are we at in the search for the next senior Pastor for Eastside? And they go, Well, we’re not searching. We’re not looking. I go, Well, why not? Why aren’t you looking like you’re supposed to be? And they go, Well, we thought you would just be our senior Pastor. And I go, Well, what does that mean? They go, Well, we have to have a vote. Well, I believe that yes’s had to be yes. And your no’s no, but they didn’t know that back then. And so, on a Sunday night, they passed out these little secret ballots. They passed out the ballots to Everybody, and Everybody voted yes or no. And they put it in a little offering plate. And then, the leadership of the church went back to little room. They counted the votes up. They come out, and they go. 30 people for Pastor Virgil, three against him. And that’s how the senior Pastor of Eastside in December of 1990. Now, when Rose and I took the church, we knew that we wanted the church to be for unchurched people. We knew that we wanted the church to be for people who were far from God. We weren’t looking to steal members from other churches. We were looking for people who needed to think differently about God. And we started reaching those people. The church started to grow, and we wanted the church to be welcoming, grace-oriented, and accepting of everyone and Everybody. We wanted a church that was for everyone because Jesus was for everyone. Folks, I don’t know if you know this or not. We throw around a lot of terms, and we throw around a lot of different mantras. And let me tell you something. Every one of those slogans, every one of those phrases that we throw around, they mean something to me. We don’t have them because they’re the hip. That’s what Everybody else is doing when we say.
IT’S OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY.
That means something to me. Because that is the church that I’ve dreamt of for my entire life. When we say that.
WE’RE THE PERFECT PLACE FOR IMPERFECT PEOPLE.
I mean that. When I say.
EVERYONE’S WELCOME!
That comes from the depth of my soul. When I say.
We are FOR you!
That is true. Do you know why that’s true? Let me tell you why that’s true. I grew up in a church that was a fundamentalist legalistic congregation. I remember as a young boy, I still remember. I know exactly where I was sitting. And there’s this beautiful couple in our church. They were well dressed. They were good-looking. I just remember, wow, that is a beautiful woman as a little nine-year-old boy. And I just remember just looking at them. And I remember this as clearly a day. I’ll never forget it. That the people in the congregation. I was whispering behind their back. That couple was having marital problems. That couple was struggling. Can I tell you what happened as far as I know? Not one single leader of the church. Said, We are for you. Not one single leader said We’re for your marriage. We’re for your family. Let’s sit down and see if we can help you. Not one spiritual conversation ever took place, and they just let that couple, as far as I know, just to have marital problems in and end divorce. And nobody tried to do anything about it. I remember that our church was in a little neighborhood, and there were houses all around the church. And the church was populated with different people. As far as I can remember. The leadership of the church never said, Hey, guys, we got all kinds of people living around the church that doesn’t know Jesus. They’re dying and going to hell. Do you think that we should do something about it? Do you think that we should maybe have a prayer meeting? Do you think that we should have a strategy meeting and see if we can somehow or another reach those people for Jesus Christ? And the people that did show up, they were mistreated. And for me. When I dreamt of pastoring a church, I wanted it to be saturated with grace because the world is heavy enough. Without coming to church and being judged, there is no place for that. And so when there’s judgment, backbiting, gossip. Man, we nip that in the bud if I hear it. There’s none of that in my world. Because let me tell you something, folks. Jesus paid too great of a price for us to be known of what we’re against rather than what we’re for. And I want this church to be the safest place in Madison County for people who are far from God. I want this to be a place. Where we don’t talk about people. We talk to people. Where there’s no backbiting, no complaining. I just said last week, if you want to complain about things at church, go somewhere else, please. Because, you know, that’s got to be too great of a price for pettiness at the church. And see. We’re not the smartest church. You do have the smartest Pastor. Even though I do have my own vocabulary, that’s pretty special. But we just take Jesus at his word, right? That Jesus says he is for us, and I believe that it’s just simple enough to know that Jesus is for us, and we believe it. That we’re all in to reach this community. I think Jesus wants to use as many congregations as he can to push back the darkness in Madison County. Here’s what I believe. I believe that when you know that Jesus is for you. That you want your friends and family to know that. When you’ve experienced peace and contentment. In your heart that Jesus gives you. You want Everybody else to remember that and to know that. I see. Folks, this is the reason the Eastside is for Madison County. When you hear me say that, I know exactly where you think the Eastside is for the unchurched. And we are. But can I say this to you? We’re also committed to helping you to think differently about Jesus. Let me just tell you how we do that. A couple of ways. Number one.
E-kids ministry.
See parents. It is imperative that you get your kids to church and check them into e-kids because you know what we are teaching them there is that God loves them. That God wants to be their friend and that God cares about them. This is their primary principals. They get to hear it on their own level, their own age group. And when you don’t have your kids back there, when you miss church, then they’re missing out on learning how to think differently about God. We have a great children’s ministry. This is the reason why we’re passionate about Sunday nights and having student ministry and e-middle and e-high and e-college come together and worship together and have their own worship service on Sunday nights. Because we want to help, them to think differently. But unless you think it’s all about students, let me just say something to you. And I want to say something in peace and love. And if you’re new around here, if I say something in peace and love, what does that mean? That I’m going to say something that’s hard. It’s going to ruffle your feathers, but you can’t get mad at me because why I said peace and love, right? Now, let me just say something to you we’re for you. And here’s the truth. A lot of you this morning are spiritually stuck. What I mean by that. Some of you. You come to worship. That’s all that you do. If that’s all that you do. You are spiritually stuck. God does not want you just to attend worship. He wants you to step into a home group, a life group, and do community with other people who can help you to stay focused on the one true God and Everybody that’s in the life group, all 600 of us around here, that’s in a life group. We can testify to the transformational power of a life group. But you’re stuck. You just come into worship. There are some people that are coming to worship, and that’s in a life group. And they’re not serving. They’re not volunteering around here. There are some people that are coming to worship and in serving, but they’re not in the life group. It’s just all across the board. And some of you, you’re in worship, you’re in a life group, you’re serving, but you’re not on the journey of generosity. And you’re spiritually stuck. Now, when you hear me say you’re spiritually stuck. It’s not that the church wants you to do more for them or for us. See, folks, we’re not asking you to do this because we want you to do more for the church. We’re asking you to do this because God wants to do more for you. God wants to do more for you. But you’re white knuckle. Some of you, you’re getting mad right now because I’m talking about money or I’m talking about life group or serving. What are you getting mad about? That’s probably the thing that God wants you to say yes to. Because you only get angry with the preacher when he talks about your idol that you’re worshiping. We say to the people who are in the room who are on the generosity journey. Who’s on the worship journey? Who’s on a life group journey and is serving. We call those people all in, and they’re back there saying, amen, Pastor, amen because you know why? Because we’ve experienced the goodness of God, as we’ve said yes to God over and over and over. See some of you. You need to go to my people’s lounge. My people’s lounge is right outside. You just say, Hey, I want to serve, or I want to talk to someone about joining a life group. For you, that needs to be somehow or another. Join or take your first step toward generosity. We’ve made it super easy. You can just do it online. eastside.church/give, we have students take over. In two weeks, students are going to lead worship. They’re going to do the band. They’re going to do the sermon, they’re going to do the parking team, hospitality team. I mean, last year, it was the highest-attended Sunday that we had on Labor Day weekend. And let me just say something to you. You need to come and be a part of that. Don’t stay away because the students are doing it. They’re going to blow your socks off. Because we got some high-quality students here at Eastside.
Well, Pastor Virgil was talking about saying yes. And so when we say yes, Jesus comes, he intervenes in our life. So when we say yes to coming to church, bringing our kids to church and getting them involved, saying yes to life group, serving, serving in the church and in our community, he comes in, and he changes us. And it’s these subtle changes that we see in our relationships, in the way we approach life, our job, and things like that. Slow changes when we say yes to Jesus. So as we stand this morning, we’re going to sing one last song. And my challenge to you is to say yes this morning to take your next spiritual step. Sing the song out with us.