In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This phrase weaves its way through our worship. Have you ever wondered why?

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2 God s Name Names are really important in the Bible. Names often give us insight into a character or make a claim about a person s past or promised future. Eve gets her name as a statement of faith: even though sin and death have just entered God s very good creation, God s promise means she will be the mother of all the living. When Abram ( exalted father ) gets a name change, it comes with a promise: Abraham ( father of many ) will have decedents like grains of sand. We know Jacob is going to be trouble right off the bat: his name means heel-puller, or deceiver, and many are the legs this Jacob will pull. So in Scripture, names mean something. The Name of God shows up in worship. We invoke God s Name, we forgive in God s Name, we pray in the Name, we go out blessed by the Name. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This phrase weaves its way through our worship. Have you ever wondered why? v What s your middle name? Is there a story around that name? v Did you ever have a nickname? How did you get it? v Have you ever known someone who lived up to their name? God Reveals His Name to Moses read Exodus 3:12-17 The Hebrew Yahweh is translated I AM. God s proper name is related to the verb that means to be or exist. What does God mean when He says, I am? In the context of Moses and the burning bush, the people of Israel are enslaved in Egypt (a land of many gods). In light of what happens next in the story, what do you think the Name I AM is supposed to convey? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob isn t a generic god. Yahweh, or the LORD in most translations, is a personal God engaged in the personal lives of His people. As heirs of the faith of Abraham, we too worship the Great I AM, the God of Promise, the God Who Is, the God Who Saves. In fact, the baby born in a manger was given the name Jesus, which means Yahweh Saves, because He would save His people from their sin (Matthew 1:21). Our God continues to be a God of Promise, the God Who Is (as opposed to all other god, who are not). Ultimately, Yahweh is the God Who Saves. 1:2

3 The Wilderness Blessing, On the Road Again We begin worship with the Invocation; we invoke, or call upon, the name of God Father, Son, and Spirit. Worship closes with another move connected to God s Name. After Yahweh brought His people out of Egypt, after He brought them through the Red Sea, after He brought them to His mountain and gave them His Law after all this, God gave explicit directions for how His people should be blessed. In Numbers 6:22-27, we read: The LORD said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace. So they will put my Name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. When Yahweh sends His people out into the wilderness wandering, He promises to go with them. Yahweh is present in, with, and under the pillar of smoke and of fire. Yahweh is present in the midst of the Tabernacle. And, when God s people are to be blessed, Yahweh makes this requirement: Put My Name on them, My threefold Name. Where God puts His Name, God comes to bless. Solomon s Dedication of the Temple read 1 Kings 8:22-53 But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! (1 Kings 8:27). v What does Solomon s prayer tell us about worship? v Who put God s Name on the Temple? v Isn t God everywhere? What s different about worship? God s Response When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD said to him: I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there (1 Kings 9:1-3). God Himself is present wherever He puts His name not merely in attendance, but present for a purpose, there for us, to rescue and bless. Because we know God promises to be present and active in worship, we want to show up in the LORD s house whenever possible. After all, where God puts His Name, that s where He keeps His eyes and heart! 1:3

4 Praying in the Name Part of Solomon s prayer and God s promise is that God would be faithful to answer prayer. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, My Name shall be there, so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place (1 Kings 8:29). In John 14, Jesus also makes a connection between His name and prayer: I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Again, in Matthew 18, Jesus tells His disciples: I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Try asking for a Ferrari, then think about the following: v What does it mean to pray in Jesus name? v What kinds of prayers did Jesus pray? The Triune God The word Trinity isn t actually used in the Bible anywhere, but it does faithfully reflect the way God has revealed Himself. Trinity is not God's name; it describes God's character. Our God is essentially a God of relationship, and that relationship begins with the three persons of the Godhead. While all three persons are distinct there is only one Father, only one Son, only one Spirit yet there is only one God. We say the Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, but these kinds of distinctions don't indicate time or prominence: they are relational words that help us talk about something we can t quite describe or even fully understand. When we see God at work, all three persons of the Trinity are active. So, for example, who do you think gets credit for the resurrection of Jesus? The Bible can say that the Father raised Jesus to life. But they can also say Jesus rose from the dead, or even that He was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit. So who raised Jesus from the dead? One God in three persons: an intimate and eternal relationship, a relationship into which we enter by faith. Jesus prayed on the night He was betrayed: Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21) 1:4

5 The God of Light AND Darkness! With God there is light and life; without God there is death and darkness. That's one of the central themes of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, where you find God at work, you find light and life; when God's presence is withdrawn, you are left with only death and darkness. In the beginning, God said, Let there be light. And there was light. God spoke, and it was. (Genesis 1:3) The eternal Word of the Father was present in this first creative act: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... all things were made through Him" (John 1:1-3). And the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. (Genesis 1:2) Father, Son, Spirit active together to bring light from the darkness. God created light; God dwells in light; God is light. And whenever the opposite of light is the darkness of sin or evil or death, then the Bible is clear: "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). But there is also a sense in which God also wraps Himself in darkness. When Yahweh descended on Mount Sinai, the mountain was covered in think clouds and darkness. The Holy of Holies was completely cut off from any light source and the Ark rested in total darkness. When the cloud of the glory of the presence of Yahweh filled Solomon's temple, the King recognized the covering of smoke as consistent with God s character: The LORD has said that he would dwell in a thick darkness (1 Kings 8:12). But the Triune God is not somehow Yin and Yang, both darkness and light. Rather, when light stands for life and purity, God contains no darkness. However, when light stands for reason or understanding, God often cloaks Himself in the dark. To say God dwells in darkness is to say that He is not merely a concept we human beings can grasp and categorize. Part of the mystery of God is that He is completely other. And if God chooses to reveal Himself to the humans He created in words and means they can grasp and understand, we must never make Him out to be some domestic deity that we can control or even comprehend. When talking about the Trinity, the Athanasian Creed confesses: The Father incomprehensible; the Son incomprehensible; the Spirit incomprehensible. So if you don t quite understand Three Persons, One God, don't worry; human reason can't comprehend the nature of God. Even more amazing than God's internal relationships, however, is God s grace. This relational God we can't fully comprehend makes Himself available to us in ways we can understand, through human communication and human elements like bread and wine, water and word. The Trinity is wrapped in impenetrable darkness, yet in Jesus, God invites you to step into the light. 1:5

6 The New and Living Temple: Us! When Jesus commissions His followers to disciple the nations, He includes the command to baptize, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Just as the Triune God was present at Jesus baptism, the Triune God was present at our baptism as well! Take a moment to think about what it means to have God s Name placed on you in baptism. Remember the burning bush. Remember the wilderness blessing. Remember Solomon s temple. Where God puts His Name, that s where He keeps His eyes and heart. And God has placed His unique, personal, and powerful Name on you. Whenever we make the sign of the cross in the morning or before bed, whenever we pray in the Name of the Triune God, whenever we begin worship with the Invocation or close with the Benediction, we remember our baptism. Paul tells us that baptism joins us to the very Name and presence of God. Baptism joins us to Christ in His death and resurrection. Baptism takes all of us, who are many, and unites us in a new relationship to God and to each other. Once we have God s Name emblazoned on our hearts, we are never the same again. While the New Testament certainly holds up corporate worship as central to the life of the Christian, another amazing undercurrent puts a new light on worship. Paul says, In Him you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). Peter adds, As you come to him, the living Stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-5). It almost seems as if, when God put His Name on us in baptism, He meant it. It almost seems as if, as bearers of God s Name, we become the place God keeps His eyes and heart. It almost seems as if and this is a wonderful and terrible, joyful and humbling thought it s as if God intends us to be the place where He touches the lives of the people around us. In our everyday, ordinary lives, we bear God s name and presence to the world. v If I were to keep these stories around God s Name in mind, how might my worship change? v Does this discussion invite me to change my attitude, my actions, my awareness? v What promise from Jesus is most important to me right now, based on the theme of God s Name? 1:6