Nothing In a Name?

By Ron Thomas

    There is nothing in a name if the name means nothing to you. If your name is “Mike”, but you answer to any other name, your given name means nothing to you (showing disrespect to your parents). If there is nothing in a name, if you are a woman named Janet married to a Mike Smith, then it will not matter to you if you are called Janet Perpendicular, Rectangular, Rotund, Mallory, or any other name. I dare say, that in some way, there is something in a name to you.

    To the Lord, there is something significant in a name. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved (Acts 4:12, ASV). In the New Testament, one does not read of a congregation of the Lord’s people with the name of a man attached to it. In fact, in the New Testament, if there is a name attached to the holy institution “built” by the Lord, the only name is “God.” There is something in a name.

    There is no other name under heaven to whom people must submit, but the name of Jesus. There is something in a name. There was no religious institution under heaven whereby any Israelite could be pleasing to the Father of glory, but by the name He chose. The Lord would accept no substitute in Israel’s worship of Him, with such names like “Baal”. There is something in a name. In our own religious context, those who think there is nothing in a name only think this so they can continue to be a member of an institution man-made.

    A building with the name of the Lord on it does not make it the Lord’s church, but it might be an indication of something. Is there something in a name? the Lord thought so. 

- Ron Thomas preacher for the Sunrush Church of Christ, Chillicothe, OH. He may be contacted through the congregation's website. http://sunrushchurchofchrist.com/