We’re Blessed By the Lord’s Name!

The Name of Jesus, 1/1/12
Numbers 6:22-27


We’re Blessed By the Lord’s Name!
I. With his loving care
II. With his joyful grace
III. With his comforting peace


The busiest gift-giving and receiving time of the year is now over. In fact, the Christmas weekend may already seem like a long time ago. We’re in the process now of putting the gifts we received to use or finding room for them in our closets and storage areas. Our world will get back to business as normal in a couple days and we won’t give much thought to giving gifts for another 11 months or so.

But not our God. As the greatest giver of all, he opened his bountiful hand toward us every day of our lives in 2011 and we can count on him to do the same in 2012. It would be time well spent today to spend a few moments reflecting on all the blessings he gave you last year and, with a thankful heart, counting on him to bless you as he sees fit in this new year.

But can we really be certain of that? Can we count on him to bless us? What if this year proves to be a colossal disaster for us personally? Your God will still bless you. That’s what he’s all about. That’s why he has revealed to you who he is and what his name is.

This morning the church celebrates the Name of Jesus. His name is literally our salvation. God brought that salvation to you and placed his name on you. For many of us that occurred at our baptisms when God made us children of God. He placed his name on us so that he could bless us every day of our lives here on earth and eternally in heaven.

That’s why we often close our worship with the blessing or benediction before us this morning. God wanted the people of the Old Testament as well as us in the New Testament to be certain that his name brings us his blessings, the blessings of the only true God, the triune God. It was no mistake that this blessing had three distinct parts, one for each person of the Trinity.

By God’s grace we’ve come to know that God. He has placed his name on us. And for that reason we’re blessed by the Lord’s name. Join me in seeing what those blessings are that come to us by his name.

Part I.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about New Year’s Day this way, but, along with many other things, isn’t it a day of uncertainty? We have 366 days ahead of us and we wonder what they will bring. Will 2012 be better or worse for us than 2011? Will my family, my health, my employment situation, my financial situation be better or worse come next Dec. 31? We don’t know. Uncertainties abound.

But every day of the new year the Lord will place his name on us with these words, “The Lord bless you and keep you.” As I mentioned, this benediction follows a trinitarian formula. This first phrase speaks of God the Father’s loving care for us.

Did God the Father care for all your needs in 2011? With a little bit of thought, I think you would agree that he did. Our needs were met. In fact, we might be hard pressed to think of a single day when our basic needs weren’t met. Truth be told, we often had far more each day than we really needed. So why wouldn’t that continue throughout the new year?

In fact, he does more than just bless us with what we need. The benediction before us reminds us that he keeps us. But in what regard does he do that? In this instance, the word “keep” has the connotation of “guard.” God the Father also guards and keeps us from harm and danger. I’m sure you can think of a close call that occurred in your life. God sent his holy angels to spare you from death or further harm. He has promised to do that as he sees best. You can count on it because that’s who he is.

But remember that he does all this only because of who he is. He is our gracious and merciful Father in heaven. He does not shower us with his blessings because we have earned or deserved them. Rather than bewilder you, that truth ought to fill you with confidence. God’s blessings for you are not dependent on what you do. He blesses you because that’s what he’s all about. That’s what he reveals to us in his name.

We’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his loving care.

When we confess our sins in general, one of those sins is worry. We know we shouldn’t do it, but it happens over and over again. And every one of our worries is making the statement that somehow God won’t provide his loving care for us. But look what he’s done for us this past year. He has carried us through it. So will we succumb to the temptation to worry in the new year? Odds are we will. And we’ll confess it once again. And our loving God will provide for our greatest need—our need for forgiveness, a forgiveness won for us by Jesus with his death on the cross. Our God does that because that’s who he is. That’s his name. Oh, how we’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his loving care.

Part II.

When properly given and properly received, Christmas gift-giving is a beautiful gesture. They are gifts given out of love. But, sadly, the motives and attitudes are often less than honorable and lovely. You hear phrases such as what a person deserves or what a person expects. In fact, we may even be disappointed in a gift received as if we deserved better.

That’s called merit. It’s a nice-sounding word, but it has no place in our relationship with our God. Instead, with our God it’s all about grace. Grace is God’s favor which we don’t deserve.

The benediction before us this morning speaks about that grace with these words, “The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” This is the second part of the blessing referring to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus is God’s grace in human form. That’s what our celebration of Christmas was all about. God took on human flesh and blood and came to this earth in order to die for us. He did that solely out of his grace. We didn’t deserve it.

And today God’s grace comes to us in his Word and sacraments. Every spiritual blessing that God wants for us comes to us through his word and in his sacraments. Chiefly those blessings are the forgiveness for our sins, our new life as a dear child of God and eternal salvation. When our God proclaims his saving name to us, that name centers in Jesus and what he has done to save us. Every time that name is proclaimed to us, we’re blessed by our God.

That’s what it means for God’s face to shine on us. He wants to shower us with the spiritual blessings that Christ won for us. It gives him great joy to bless sinners with forgiveness and eternal life.

We’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his joyful grace.

That grace of God was our greatest gift in 2011 and another year of that saving grace stretches before us. How will we use that grace? In abundance or at a minimum? Will it be high or low on our priorities? Will we appreciate that grace or despise it? Our God knows how much we need that grace because we’re daily sinners who deserve nothing but punishment. See God’s grace in action in the life and death of Jesus your Savior. Ponder and appreciate what he did for you. And then receive that grace in abundance. You God wants to bless you with it. That’s who our God is. That’s his name.

Part III.

Did all of the Christmas gifts you purchased reach their intended recipients? I would assume so. If you go to the trouble of buying them, you make sure that they’re given out. What a shame at this point to have a neat stack of gifts that haven’t been given!

What an eternal shame if that were the case with our God! God the Father planned our salvation and God the Son perfectly fulfilled that plan and won eternal gifts or blessings for us and for all people. That’s what our God is all about. That’s his name.

And to make sure we receive those gifts, he places the name of the Holy Spirit on us. The benediction reads, “The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

The work of God the Holy Spirit is to bring us to faith in Jesus and to keep us in that faith. To do that work he uses the word and the sacraments, the means of grace. The Holy Spirit accomplishes God’s highest will when he brings a sinner to faith in Jesus.

Our benediction describes that activity as the Lord turning his face toward us. Our God doesn’t turn away from us. Instead, he delights each day to look upon us and to smile on us with his forgiveness. That forgiveness for all our sins makes us holy and precious in his sight. The barrier of our sin between us and the holy God has been removed.

That means we live each day in a loving relationship with our Lord. We don’t have to wonder how God feels about us or what his attitude toward us is. He loves us so much that he sacrificed his Son for us. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings that peace of heart and mind to us each day of our lives.

We’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his comforting peace.

Today we begin a new year with the hope that life goes well for us in 2012. But we know that it might not happen. There may be some dark days ahead. But if there is, we know that God’s peace goes with us. Even if all turns out wrong for us in our earthly lives, we have the confidence that our God still loves us and will be with us and will strengthen and guide us. In fact, we have his peace in life and in death. You can be sure of it because that’s who your God is. He exists to bless you. That’s his name and he has placed that name on you eternally. Amen.