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Title: Sermon: God Blesses Us by His Name. We Bless the Name of God
Text: Psalm 103:1
Liturgical Date: Epiphany 7C
Calendar Date: February 23, 2025
Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County
Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, for getting out all His benefits.” Today, we’re going to explore the theme that God blesses us with His name, and therefore, we, in turn, bless His name.
The Power of a Name
What’s in a name? Quite a bit! You can say some of the last names in the community, and already, pictures are going to pop up in your mind. Just think about some of the common names in the area: Clark, Dahms, Uecker, Schley, Jeanquart, Mueller. Right away, I am sure and certain that just by saying these names, you already have a little bit of a picture of someone. Maybe you imagine what they look like—how tall or short they are, or what kind of build they have. You might already have a sense of the kind of jobs they do or the hobbies they enjoy. You might even know something about their temperament. You just kind of know because of that last name. Now, not everybody who shares the same last name is exactly the same, but you get a sense.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have received God’s name. And even as we have received God’s name, so also we reflect who God is. We bless Him on that account. That is precisely what our sermon is about today. We are marking the rite of confirmation, and what is the rite of confirmation? It is many things, but one of the things it is an affirmation of what the Lord grants us in holy baptism.
Blessed by God’s Name in Baptism
We have all been baptized—those of us who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. By this means, we have been blessed by God’s name. In what way? Christ our Lord tells us in the institution: “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” What does it mean to be a disciple? To be a disciple means to be a follower of Jesus. But what does that mean? Usually, when we think about being a follower of Jesus, we think about following Jesus in moral terms, and it is nothing less than following Jesus morally. He Himself indicates this when He goes on to say, “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey every command that I have given you.”
But it is something far more than following Jesus morally. Baptism is nothing less than a miracle, I believe—a miracle that, while not perceptible to the eye, is perceptible to the heart. What miracle is this? St. Paul explains it in Romans chapter six: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We are buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” What St. Paul is telling us in the book of Romans is this: in baptism, we follow Jesus into His cross, into His death, into His grave. And the promise is that, even while we follow Him into His grave—into, as it says in Psalm 23, the valley of the shadow of death—yet, because we do so, we therefore follow with Him into the green pastures and the still waters of eternal life.
We emerge out of that valley into heavenly bliss and the resurrection of the dead. That is the promise given to us in holy baptism. By means of that triune name with the water—in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—even as Christ has died and risen, so also we die with Him by baptism, and so also we will rise. Baptism is how the work of the cross of Christ is applied to us. On the cross 2,000 years ago, Christ died for the redemption of us from our sin, and in holy baptism, we have a washing of redemption and the forgiveness of sins. As St. Paul tells us, “The wages of sin is death.” Therefore, where there is now no sin, there is also now no death. “Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O death, is thy sting?” Death comes from sin. Through our baptism, sin is washed away, and we therefore have eternal life.
God blessed us with His name thereby, and therefore, in turn, we bless His.
Blessing God’s Name in Our Lives
How do we as Christians bless His name? We bless His name first of all when we use His name as He desires. In the Second Commandment, God says, “Thou shalt not misuse the name of the Lord thy God.” What does this mean? We know from the Small Catechism that we should not curse, swear, lie, deceive, or practice satanic arts by His name. With this comes the positive exhortation: What are we to do with God’s name instead? Pray, praise, and give thanks. We bless God’s name when we use that name to lift up prayers and supplications to Him, and God delights in hearing our prayer. We bless His name when we praise God, when we extol Him for His wondrous attributes and lift up His wondrous actions for us. We do this to all who will hear, and to Him as well. We bless God’s name when we lift up thanksgivings to Him, thanking Him for all of His worldly benefits—our house, home, clothing, shoes, all these blessings the Lord has given us. And we thank Him not only for these earthly blessings but also, and especially, for the heavenly blessings: the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation.
We bless God’s name when we lead a life befitting of a Christian. In the introduction, I said you probably have some understanding of the temperament of an individual just by virtue of that individual’s last name. So also let it be the case that we have a way of life and conduct befitting of the name of Christian. As we heard in our Gospel lesson, God is generous to all; therefore, let us be generous as well. God is merciful, gladly forgiving sins; therefore, let us be merciful as well—not holding bitterness or grudges, but gladly forgiving, giving even as we have been forgiven. By this, the name of God and the name of Christ is glorified when we lead lives of love as God has commanded us to do.
Confessing Our Faith with Boldness
Finally, we bless God’s name when we confess our faith—when we confess our faith in God the Father, who has made all things and given us every earthly blessing; when we confess our faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, who has redeemed us from every sin; and when we confess our faith in the Holy Spirit, who grants us faith in these things so that we receive the benefits of Christ’s work on the cross, which is eternal life. That’s a powerful thing to say: “I believe.” When you say, “I believe,” you’re saying, “Yes, I assent with the mind.” But even more, you’re saying, “I trust in the heart.” I trust in the Father. I trust in the Son. I trust in the Holy Spirit. And when you say, “I believe,” the gates of hell shake. When you say, “I believe,” the gates of heaven open. When you say, “I believe,” God the Holy Spirit uses this as a hammer to crush the dull crust off your neighbor’s hearts, so they, hearing the words of God upon your lips, may also believe and be built up in the faith.
I grew up at the very tail end of established Christianity in the United States of America. I remember the ‘80s, when church was just full as a matter of course, and on special services, you had to fill the aisles with folding chairs and things like that. On the one hand, that was great, but on the other hand, it also meant there were an awful lot of people who were there simply because they felt they had to be. You could hear it in the way they confessed the creed. I remember being in third grade, and the creed would come up, and people would say, “I believe in… maker of heaven and earth.” It was so listless, it was uninspired. I remember a lot of the men in the congregation just wouldn’t say anything at all. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let this not be our confession. Rather, every time we confess the creed, let us say it with strength, say it with power, say it with confidence: “I believe!” And by this, we bless the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who has so wondrously blessed us by means of His name.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.