God has a Name... and a Name Changes Things!

My children are desperate for a pet.

Last year, they adopted a spider that had made a home in a ceiling corner in our basement. They are usually terrified of spiders, but this one remained motionless in its web, and this must have made it seem relatively unthreatening to them. I knew that they had gone from fear to affection when they named him Twitchy.

A few years earlier, while serving NewLife church in Glastonbury, my children adopted an ant that was crawling across the floor. They named it Gloria. Later, they discovered a roly-poly bug in the corner and named him Roger. To this day, in tribute to Roger, we own an oversized, slimy, stretchy bug that we have named Icky Roger.

Icky Roger is the longest-lasting Dollar Store purchase I've ever possessed. One reason we have kept him so long is because we have named him. How can we throw away Icky Roger? He's not just any over-sized, slimy, stretchy bug! He has a name, and a name changes things.

A Name Changes Things

I've heard it said that you should never name a stray animal, because you'll end up owning it. I've heard the same about farm animals. There is a big difference between eating a hotdog and eating Wilber the Pig.

Giving an object a name personalizes the object. It endows it with great personal meaning that it would not otherwise possess. People have been known to name their cars, computers, fishing rods, handguns, and GPS's.

A name makes things personal. Things become "more real" - more meaningful - when names are attached. The great tragedy of the Vietnam War is apparent when one spends time reflecting on the 58,260 names listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The names make all the difference. They make it personal. Real people died. Real families were touched. The same sense of tragedy and loss was personally felt by our nation when the names of the 9/11 victims scrolled by on a giant screen during U2's 2002 Superbowl Halftime Show.

Our India Mission is another example of how a name makes things personal. We all know that there is great need in India. But this great need becomes personal when we identify a few needy children by name. The name establishes a personal connection and the need becomes "more real." The cause has a face. The same was true for our Giving Tree this past Christmas. By putting specific names together with specific needs, the need became personal, and we were able to respond to it.

God Has a Name

A name clearly identifies another person and makes it possible to establish a relationship with that person. A name is not a concept. Concepts attempt to explain or understand the nature of an object or individual. A name doesn't explain a person. It doesn't say everything about an individual, but it does point to a person and identify her, distinguishing her from others, making it possible to call upon her and establish a personal relationship with her.

The God of ancient Israel possessed many names - names that describe God's actions and character. But one name stood out above all others - the personal, covenant name of God: "Yahweh". Yahweh and its short form "Yah" occur over 6,800 times in the Old Testament--more than any other word. The short form is common in the liturgical formula of praise, "Hallelujah."

Often called the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), Yahweh is the name given to Moses in order to identify God - to distinguish God from all other gods. Yahweh is the God who was active in the lives of the people of Israel from the very beginning. Yahweh is the God worshipped by earlier generations ("the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob") and generations yet to come ("this is my name for ever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation") (Exodus 3:15).

The name, Yahweh, is not a concept - a window into understanding the nature of God. It does not explain much about God. It is not meant to be a philosophical name referring to Absolute Being, but rather, it highlights the freedom, majesty, and mystery of God: "I am who I am," "God is who God is," "God will be God." This is the "God of the Hebrews" (3:18-20).

The name of God defies conceptualization, but invites relationship. The God who could not be comprehended by mortal minds could be personally approached and known through the name, Yahweh. The sacred name allowed Israel to invoke God and establish a personal relationship with God. It allowed them to personally identify the God who chose to be with them and for them - the God who personally chose to act on their behalf to deliver them from Egyptian oppression.[1]

To ancient Israel, God was not an abstract idea or a philosophy, but a personal God who chose to personally act on behalf of a people that God loved and with whom God had entered into covenant. God was not the Uncaused Cause, the Prime Mover, or the Necessary Being - a god of the philosophers. Neither was God simply an impersonal "source," "intelligence," or "sacred presence" - the god of the New Age Movement and of most "pop" spiritualities that reduce "spirituality" to an abstract, impersonal experience of the sacred or transcendent.

Yahweh is a God who speaks in order to engage people in personal relationship. Yahweh personally spoke to Moses, expressed outrage concerning injustice, acted justly on behalf of the oppressed, communicated laws for worshipful and righteous living, and expressed anger, frustration, and disappointment as well as pleasure, joy, and delight.

Compared to the difficult challenges of personally interacting with such a God, the option of holding to a generic, impersonal spirituality has much going for it. Let's face it: it is convenient to be "spiritual-but-not-religious" if it keeps us from having to engage with a God who calls for a personal response with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. An abstract, impersonal God is not nearly as bothersome and intrusive as a personal God. There is no messy relationship to work through with an impersonal source, power, or energy. No real communication that one must seek to understand and embody. No divine will that one must seek and follow. No passion, delight, or anger with which one must engage.[2]

And there is also no love that calls for love in return.

The greatest problem with an impersonal God is that it is impossible to speak of loving God. Love only exists between persons. Love is not about understanding the nature of something; it is about entering into a relationship with someone. A relationship is established, not by understanding the nature or essence of another - to approach God or another person as a concept - but by speaking another's name. Love demands an I/Thou relationship, not an I/It objectivity. There is no reciprocity between I/It. And make no mistake about it - "It" is what God becomes when God is no longer a person.

In the New Testament, the revelation of God becomes even more personal - unmistakably personal! Jesus is Lord, our Emmanuel, God with us. Now when we think of God, we think of God through the lens of Jesus, who reveals God most fully. The greatest revelation of God is personal, that is, it is found in and through the Person of Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14).

The fact that God desires a personal relationship with us is not fundamentalist fanaticism, but at the heart of God's revelation in Christ. Love has a name, and that name is Christ Jesus.

God Has Your Name

God not only has a name; God has your name. God doesn't love humanity in the abstract. For God, love is deeply personal. God loves real people with particular names.

Repeatedly throughout the Bible God proclaims, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Prior to the giving of the name "Emmanuel" to the infant Jesus, Matthew records a long list of names spanning generations - a genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17). This list (one of many in the Bible) reveals something very important. God is a God of individuals - of real people with particular names.

Often when we see crowds of people, the faces blur together, and we are unable to make out individuals. We can think only of numbers and not of names. Personal identity seems to be lost in the midst of the mass of humanity.

We may be overwhelmed by crowds, but God is not. Pastor and author Max Lucado writes,

When I see a flock of sheep I see exactly that, a flock. A rabble of wool. A herd of hooves. I don't see a sheep. I see sheep. All alike. None different. That's what I see.

But not so with the shepherd. To him every sheep is different. Every face is special. Every face has a story. And every sheep has a name...

The shepherd knows his sheep. He calls them by name.

When we see a crowd, we see exactly that, a crowd. Filling a stadium or flooding a mall. When we see a crowd, we see people, not persons, but people. A herd of humans. A flock of faces. That's what we see.

But not so with the Shepherd. To him every face is different. Every face is a story. Every face is a child. Every child has a name...

The Shepherd knows his sheep. He knows each one by name. The Shepherd knows you. He knows your name. And he will never forget it. I have written your name on my hand (Isa. 49:16).

Quite a thought, isn't it? Your name on God's hand. Your name on God's lips. Maybe you've seen your name in some special places. On an award or diploma or walnut door. Or maybe you've heard your name from some important people--a coach, a celebrity, a teacher. But to think that your name is on God's hand and on God's lips... my, could it be?[3]

You won't get lost in the crowd with Jesus. You may think to yourself, "How could God possibly think of me. God has too many great concerns to be bothered with the likes of me." But this is to reduce God to our small dimensions. And it is to forget that to God you are not a number - one of the mass of humanity - you are a unique person whom God deeply treasures.

Beloved, God knows your name! The psalmist reflected on God's exhaustive and personal knowledge of his actions and thoughts: "When I sit down, rise up, lie down, walk and talk, wherever I go and whatever I do, you are with me" (Psalm 139). Jesus taught that God knows the number of hairs on your head. You are always on God's mind and always will be. The risen Lord Jesus Christ comforts us all with these words, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

To bureaucrats, you are a number, a cog in the wheel - nameless, faceless, cold and impersonal. To philosophers, you are an abstract concept. To ideologues, you are a label. Through labels they negate you, write you off, depersonalize you. But to God, you are a person, with a name, a face, a history, and a future.

During a Question and Answer period at a theological conference, the German theologian Karl Barth was asked, "What is the most profound thought that you know, Dr. Barth?" Barth's answer, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

You Have God's Name

Let's review what we've discovered so far:

God has a name and a name changes things. A name clearly identifies another person and makes it possible to call upon that person and establish a relationship with them. A name is personal. God is not an abstraction, a concept or philosophy. The God of the Bible is a personal God who has chosen to be personally revealed in Christ. God's love is embodied in a person - the Lord Jesus Christ.

God has your name. God knows our names and desires a mutual relationship of love. God is love. And you are an object of eternal love. Your name is written on God's heart.

And finally, God desires for you to have God's name - for it to be written on your heart and reflected in your life. In the movie Toy Story, Woody and Buzz Lightyear found great joy in bearing their master's name, Andy, on their shoe. The name was a constant reminder that they were loved.

Similarly, in baptism we take on God's name. The early church baptized into the name of Jesus. As the tradition developed, the formula was expanded into baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through baptism, we take upon ourselves God's name and enter into the love of God. We are branded by love, marked with the name of God.

As baptized ones, we bear God's name in the world. We bear the name of Christ - Christians. We work, pray, serve, and love "in the name of Christ." Having been marked by God, our lives should reflect this relationship. For God has a name and God has our name - and we have God's name. And a name changes things!

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© Richard J. Vincent, 2008