The Greek verb here translated "written" is not the common grapho, but is rather the verb engrapho, what we would translate, "engrave." Rejoice that your names are engraved in heaven!

What's in a name? Think about that.

Think of those who signed the Declaration of Independence - 56 of them. Think of the high cost of those signatures. Nearly one-third of them lost their homes to the enemy. Several lost their families. Many lost all their worldly possessions.

What's in a name? Every aspect of your personality. Most of all, your identity.

"May we use your name?" means, Will you support our cause? "May I quote you?" means, Are you willing to stand behind your statement with your name?

When Abraham Lincoln affixed his name to the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, he was so determined that his name be bold and firm that he put down his pen several times before he actually signed it. What's in a name? Your character. Your reputation.

Gutzon Borglum was hired to carve the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln on the side of Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota. It took him 14 years.

A few months after the work was completed, in 1941, Borglum died. Shortly before his death he was asked why it took so long. His answer: "Every calculation has to be exact, for that monument will be there a long time. And my name is on that monument."

God promised the faithful "an everlasting name" (Isaiah 56:5) which to the Hebrews was very important. To them, a name signified personal reality.

Personal reality! Identity. Each of us will die - unless, of course, Jesus soon comes with his eternal Kingdom. But as surely as we will die, we will be raised again at the time of that Second Coming.

When we are raised, we will no longer dwell within our broken bodies and our sickly psyches. When Jesus comes, my body will "clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." (I Corinthians 15:53)

What, then, will God raise to eternal life? I believe what God will raise is the personal reality, the essence of being, the name, the character (made perfect, of course) and the personality (without present flaws).

Ecclesiasticus 44:14 tells us, "Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name lives forever." The name is what God will bless with immortality.

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give a white stone with a new name written on it."

(Revelation 2:17)

When I was a kid, I walked about a mile up L Street in College View, Nebraska to the parochial school. On the way, I passed a large house in front of which was a stone, on which was carved a name. I don't remember the name. I do remember that they had a 3-stall garage - in the early 30's that meant they were millionaires! And they had peacocks!

My name is Felix A Lorenz Jr. The "Jr" means there was a Felix A Lorenz Sr. My dad, of course! My dad was a wonderful, unique person. As I have told you - too often, possibly - I have always been proud of my dad. First, a tireless worker in the ministry. Then, after a breakdown from overwork, he was a scrupulously honest and signally successful businessman. Still later, a college teacher and school administrator of extraordinary effectiveness. So it is natural, you see, that I am proud of my name.

One night I made a hospital visit. A lady approached me. "Felix?" When I assured her I am Felix, she said, "I was one of your students." The flattering thing to me is that she remembered me as Felix, not Mr. Lorenz.

Dale Carnegie said the sweetest word in the English language is to any person his own name. We all know that one of the most effective tools of any salesman is to call his prospects by name. Unfortunately, some of them overdo it, using the name insincerely, and too often.

I read a story about a beggar who asked a man on a London street corner for a handout. The man asked in return, "Why don't you go to work and earn your own way?"

"Sir, I have tried, but I am an ex-convict and no one will hire me. I have no name. What can a man do without a name?"

The man took the beggar to a restaurant, bought him a meal, and then said, "My good man, I am leaving the country on an extended trip and I won't be back for several years. While I am gone you may use my name. I will get you a job in my name, Horace J. Witherspoon."

He did. The beggar, now as "Horace J. Witherspoon," went to work.

Several years later, the original Horace J. Witherspoon returned. Late in the evening there was a knock on his door. The visitor handed him a card on which he read, "Horace J. Witherspoon, partner."

"Sir, I am the beggar to whom you lent your name and for whom you got a job. I have kept your name untarnished. Today I was made a partner in the firm. I am a success - because you gave me your name!"

Dear saints, Jesus Christ offers you his name. You can be a success - in the name of Jesus Christ. The "name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9) can be your name! What an honor it is to be a Christian!

Paul said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" We are to be new people, new in every sense of the word.

Can I describe that new you? No, I can't. Every new "you" is a different person.

God will not give all of us the same new name . . . the same new meaning . . . nor for the same reasons.

You must be you, a better you, a happier you, a consecrated you, but a unique "you," different from any and every other person.

Isaiah compares us to suckling babes, children caressed on our mothers' laps. In his ecstatic poetry, Isaiah calls us to rejoice greatly, to nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts of the mother, the church, the city of our God, Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66)

Remember the play, Auntie Mame, the eccentric, unorthodox, life-affirming woman whose motto was, "Life is a banquet, but there are too many poor fools out there starving to death"?

Isaiah was somewhat like Auntie Mame, somewhat eccentric. No wonder he was unpopular among the "proper" people! In the end he paid the ultimate price for being a faithful prophet.

Jesus was an eccentric, too - questionable social habits, unreasonable demands of his followers, a way-out life-style. Those who respond to God are usually "out of the ordinary"!

To be called by a family name means to be born into the family with that name. I am a Lorenz because my parents were named Lorenz. And my children are named Lorenz.

To "inherit" the name Christian means to be born into the Christian family. "You must be born again."

And when you are born into the family, you have that name the rest of your life, unless you choose to change it.

No one can take my family name from me. I may tarnish the name. I may be a disgrace to the family. But I am always a Lorenz.

I am a born-again Christian, adopted into the family of God. I make mistakes. I am not always a child of whom the Father can be proud. But he never disinherits me.

I have a sister who was adopted by my parents when her parents died. Once my parents signed adoption papers, they could never disinherit her. They could have disinherited my brother or me, but never my adopted sister.

When you are adopted by the family of God (Ephesians 1) you will never, never be disinherited! You are a Christian for life . . . unless you choose to change your name!

So you see, to call yourself a Christian is to be proud of your family. It is not an arrogant or boastful claim to perfection; it is simply an articulation of your family tree. Most of us are proud of our family trees.

So Christian is your family name. But what about your given name? We were promised new names. What does it take to be given a new name? We have some examples in Scripture.

Abram, "a high father," was a wealthy, high-standing nobleman of old, and was apparently one of the richest men on earth. He was also a man of God.

God changed his name to Abraham, "father of a multitude." Why? What was there about this man that God said he deserved a new name?

Well, you probably remember his dialogue with Lot and his confrontation with God. When he and Lot separated, he gave Lot his choice of direction. Lot chose the rich, fertile land near the sea, which was also near the cities! It was a selfish choice. It turned out to be a poor choice,

Yet, when Sodom was going to be destroyed, God told his friend Abraham, who pled with God, even to the point of possibly exasperating God! Remember? He said twice, "Don't be angry with me, God, but can you please spare the cities for the sake of the righteous?" He was concerned for his nephew Lot and his family. That kind of intercessory prayer revealed a godly character, and faith.

By faith Abraham went out of his native land, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived in a strange land. By faith he looked forward to a city of God. God called him, he followed, God changed his name.

Jacob, which means "cheater," was a cheater both by definition and by character. He cheated his father. He cheated his brother. But Jacob changed, he repented, he prayed, he became a servant of God. He was "born again," if you please.

He was on his way to make right his wrongs when he met God "face to face." They wrestled; God changed his name to Israel, "a prince of God."

The most striking name change in the Bible, I believe, is that of Simon, the big fisherman, the hot-tempered zealot, the enthusiastic, albeit naive, disciple.

Jesus called him Peter, the "rock." It took many months of polishing to make that rock presentable. But in the end, Peter was indeed a rock of stability and steadfastness for Jesus Christ. He earned a new name!

Fred wanted to buy his daughter an opal for her birthday. It is the birth stone for October. As he looked at all the different month stones, he felt the opal was somewhat drab. He told the clerk how disappointed he was in the stone. "Watch this," the clerk said, as she rubbed the stone in the palm of her hand. "You see, these stones need the warmth of the human touch."

Fred was skeptical as he watched her, but he was amazed by the splendor of the gem when she finished. It shone with beauty and luster.

If your life is dull and colorless, it is nevertheless rich with splendorous possibilities. You may just need some polishing. There can be a true "gold" character beneath the dust of your appearance!

When we were in Bangkok, Thailand, we saw the Temple of the Golden Buddha.

In 1957 a "clay" statue had to be moved to make room for a new hiway. Moving the statue caused a crack in the clay, and a week of heavy rain revealed a secret - a pot-bellied buddha that weighs 5000 pounds and is made of gold worth $100,000,000!

No one knows the history for sure, but they believe the golden buddha was "hidden" by being covered with clay in the 17th century when Burmese invaders threatened the kingdom of Siam. The Burmese likely murdered the Siamese priests, and so it was that the secret remained until 1957!

The good news is that the Holy Spirit sees gold beneath each veil of clay, and can wash the mud away to reveal the real "you." The Spirit will then give you a new name. You and I were created to be gold, but sin and a world gone wrong have caked us over with the mud of evil.

Jesus, eccentric, non-conformist, odd man of the day, was not different simply for the sake of being different (altho there is more validity to that than to conformity for the sake of conformity). He was different because his message is different, his kingdom is different. So Christianity is different . . .

Loretta Lynn has been a close friend of former President and First Lady Carter since before he was governor of Georgia. At a recent Habitat for Humanity rally she referred to "Jimmy and Rosie."

A news reporter chided her, "Don't you think it's presumptuous to call the former president and first lady by their first names?"

She smiled, and replied, "I call Jesus by his first name!"

My name, Felix, means "happy." Maybe that's why I like to be called by my first name! I also like the intimacy of first-name relationships.

Lew Redmond was the senior minister at Cass Methodist when I served there. I remember when one of his children behaved in a manner Lew did not approve. He didn't shout nor scold. He said quietly, "Remember, you're a Redmond!" What a sermon! When you are tempted to behave in a manner unbecoming a child of God, Remember, you're a Christian!

Do you remember the TV show, To Tell the Truth? Three people would all claim to be someone; only one was telling the truth. One night, all 3 claimed to be the daughter of Albert Einstein. The panelists were all fooled. No one identified the real daughter of the famous scientist. One of the ladies was a tugboat operator, another was the mother of one of the cameramen. The point is, they fooled the panel. No one identified the real daughter of Einstein!

You may fool people, but you can not fool God. He knows whether or not you are a phony.

A small child was confused by what she heard, but she prayed the words she tho't she heard: "Our Father who art in heaven. How do you know my name?"

How indeed? We may forget the Father; he never forgets us. He knows us all by name.

There are no more discouraging words than, "Nobody knows my name." We need to be recognized, hopefully by name.

Leo Tolstoy is said to have been accosted by a beggar asking for money. With a genuine sigh of regret, he said, "Brother, I am really sorry, but I have nothing to give you."

The beggar said, "You gave me a gift more precious than money. You called me brother! Thank you."

One's life-style inevitably reflects one's priorities. If you choose the name Christian, you should be a credit to the family name. That means you should reflect the priorities of Jesus. That may take some polishing by the Holy Spirit. Gems usually need to be polished!

What's in a name? What does the name Christian mean to you? There are many ramifications to that, and I challenge you to think about it, pray about it, study about it

Let us pray.

Lord, we praise you today for our name - Christian. What an honor to be called after your son Jesus! Make us a people who reflect not only the name, but the character of Jesus.

We praise you for the commission to go into the world as missionaries, to make known the Kingdom. We want to show the world how thrilling it is to follow you, to be sent ahead of you as emissaries, ambassadors for your Kingdom.

Grant us a double portion of your Spirit, Lord, that we may fulfill our commission well.