I wonder if your momma was as embarrassing as mine. When I was little my momma was obsessed with labeling my clothing. The tags of my t-shirts, the toes of my socks, even the waistbands of my skivvies had little “HL’s” written in them so that all the world would know those shirts, socks, and skivvies belonged to Harmon Lewis. I am not sure why she did it. I don’t mean to brag but, we lived in a place and at a time when you could leave your front door unlocked with no concern that someone was going to break into your house, sneak into your bedroom, open your dresser drawers and steal your shirts, socks, and skivvies. I am sorry if that was a concern in your neighborhood, but in mine, not so much. Additionally, I had three sisters. I was the only boy in the house. It was pretty obvious who the Evil Knievel T-shirt and Superman Underoos belonged to. But that didn’t matter to my momma, as soon as a new item was purchased or given to me, she would break out her Sharpie and put my initials on it. In grade school it didn’t bother me that much. I didn’t make an extensive study of it, but it seemed as if all my friend’s Underoos had been labeled by their mommas.
Eventually they stopped making Underoos in my size, but that didn’t stop my momma from labeling my undergarments. Do you know how embarrassing it is to go off to boarding school as a freshman like that? I’d be in the locker room after football practice doing my best to look tough and intimidating … I’d flex my pecks and cross my arms with my fists under my biceps so that they would look bigger while talking to my teammates about running a 4.9 40…some towel snapping senior would come up to me, “Dude, did your mommy put your initials on your boxers?” …It is hard to look tough and intimidating with your name written on your underwear.
I don’t mean to pick on my momma so much. I really shouldn’t pick on her at all seeings how I am guilty of doing the same thing. I don’t put my name on shirts, socks, and skivvies, I put my name on people. I put my name on my wife. As soon as she said, “I do”, I slapped a Lewis label on that woman so that everyone knew she was my wife. She is too good looking to let her wander around otherwise. And I didn’t stop with my wife, I put my name on my children. Michelle got to give each of our babies their first names, but I slapped the Lewis label at the end of each one of those names. It’s not as though the doctors and nurses were begging me to leave them behind, all they did was eat, poo, and cry, but I put my name on them anyway and took them home with me.
That’s my wife. Those are my boys. I put my name on them. Why do we do that? Men, why do we put our names on our woman and children? It is not as though they belong to us in the same way that say shirts, socks, and skivvies can belong to us. They are not possessions, they are people. So why do we put our names on them?
When we put our name on our women and children, we are not treating them like property, rather, we are proclaiming and pronouncing, declaring and decreeing, asserting and affirming that we have made an obligation to them. By putting our name on our woman and children we are letting them know that we have obligated ourselves to love them. We are letting our wives know that we will serve them and make sacrifices for them. We are letting our children know that we will train them and instruct them. Men, we put our name on our woman and children to let them know that we love them.
Our triune God does the same thing, for the same reason. In our lesson for today, God instructs the pastors of His people, “put my name on them.” In Numbers 6:27 God says, “27So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Put my name on them so that they will know that I have obligated myself to provide for their needs, put my name on them so that they will know that I have obligated myself to pardon their sins, put my name on them so that they will know that I have obligated myself to give them peace. Put my name on my people so that they will know that I love them.
In Numbers 6:22-23 we read, “22 The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites.” Our Triune God is very specific with the instructions that He gives to Moses. He says, “This is how” you are to put my name on my people. He selects the very words by which His name is placed on us. The words that follow are familiar to you. They are spoken at the end of almost every worship service here at Messiah as they have been spoken in thousands of churches to millions of Christians for thousands of years. (Archeologists discovered these words inscribed on a 7th century B.C. silver amulet. That predates the Babylonian exile and makes these words the oldest surviving text of Scripture.)
So that you might know that He loves you, the LORD instructs His pastors to put the name of God the Father on His people, saying: “24 The LORD bless you and keep you.” To bless in the Old Testament means “to provide”. To keep invokes the image of a protector. We see in these words the person of God the Father. We think of creation and the care He took to provide a perfect paradise in which we were to thrive. And even after the fall into sin we think of the rain He provides to fall on the earth and the sun He provides to shine in the sky so that we can sow and reap a harvest. We think of the laws of physics that hold the fabric of the universe together and protect us from chaos. We think of the angels He has commanded to guard us in all our ways. We think about the governing authorities He has established to do us good and the mothers and fathers He gives to care for us. With these words we are reminded of all the ways God the Father gives us good and guards us from evil. When the LORD puts His name on you, He is letting you know that He has obligated Himself to provide for all your needs.
So that you might know that He loves you, the LORD instructs His pastors to put the name of God the Son on His people, saying: “25 the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you” A shinning face is a happy face, a gracious face is a giving face. These words are describing the face of God the Son. For only through Him are we able to look upon the face of God. Recall what the LORD said to Moses in Exodus 33:20, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” We who are sinful have become unholy. As such, we cannot stand in the presence of a holy God and live. But just when the wrath of God was about to be revealed from heaven against all of our godlessness and wickedness, Jesus stepped in front of us. He took our sins upon himself. Because of our sins, His Father looked away from Him in disgusts. Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!?” All this He did so that when the face of God looks at us… we see a smile. With these words we are reminded of the forgiveness and salvation God the Son has given to us. When the LORD puts His name on you, He is letting you know that He has obligated Himself to pardon your sins.
So that you might know that He loves you, the LORD instructs His pastors to put the name of God the Holy Spirit on His people, saying: “26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” A face turns toward a person so that their eyes can examine them. A person is given peace only when those eyes do not see sin. In these words, we see the work of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not blind to our sin. He sees our natural sinful condition. He sees our sins of thought, word, and deed. He sees what we deserve. But because of Jesus, He sees that we have been forgiven those sins. Because of Jesus, the Holy Spirit looks at us like a husband looks at his wife or a father looks at his children. With eyes of love and compassion, the Holy Spirit sees that we struggle with guilt and shame. He sees that we believe and yet struggle to overcome our unbelief. And so, the Holy Spirit goes to work on our hearts. Through the Holy Scriptures He creates and strengthens faith inside of us. He assures us and reassures us that the Father who cares for the universe cares also for us. He assures and reassures us that when God the Son died on the cross, He died for us. With these words, God the Holy Spirit reminds us that we are a people at peace with God and that one day we will live eternally at peace in heaven. When the LORD puts His name on you, He is letting you know that He has obligated Himself to give you peace.
It’s been a hot minute since my momma has labeled any of my clothes and I got to say, I kind of miss it. Now that I have two grown boys that are wearing the same size clothing as I am, but are too cheap to go buy their own stuff, so they just help themselves to whatever they find in my closet, knowing that I am getting too old and senile to remember if it was ever mine in the first place, I kind of wish my momma was still putting my name on my possessions.
My name may not be on my possessions, but it is on my people. I feel fairly confident that I speak for the Fathers that have gathered here this morning when I say we hope that our women and children consider it a blessing to have our names put on them. We want our names to be constant reminders of how much we love our women and children.
The LORD wants His children to feel the same way about His name. That’s why every week, at the end of the service, before we all go our separate ways, the LORD instructs me to put His name on you. He wants you to know that God the Father has obligated Himself to provide for you. He wants you to know that God the Son has obligated Himself to pardon you. He wants you to know that God the Holy Spirit has obligated Himself to give you peace. The LORD instructs me to put His name on you so that you know that He loves you. The LORD says to me, put my name on my people. 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.” Amen